Thursday, October 23, 2008

Runs Created by position - part 3

Today, I'll finish up my series of articles on runs created by position by looking at corner outfielders and designated hitters. Parts 1 and 2 covering all the other positions can be found here:

Part 1
Part 2

Carlos Quentin was the runs created per game leader among AL left fielders with 7.2 RC/G. Manny Ramirez had 6.9 RC/G before being traded to the NL and Johnny Damon had 6.6.
Marcus Thames finished 10th in the league with 4.7 RC/G in 342 plate appearances. Matt Joyce did not have the 300 plate appearances needed to qualify for the table but he finished at 5.6 RC/G in 277 PA. The plan right now is for Carlos Guillen (5.9 RC/G in 2008) to play left field in 2009. He has averaged 6.5 RC/G over the past three years but is getting older and more brittle.

Table 1: Runs Created by AL left fielders in 2008

Rank

Player

Team

PA

RC/G

RC

1

Quentin

CHA

569

7.2

97

2

Ramirez

BOS

425

6.9

69

3

Damon

NYA

623

6.6

99

4

Cust

OAK

598

6.4

90

5

Ibanez

SEA

707

6.1

107

6

DeJesus

KC

577

5.9

85

7

Scott

BAL

536

5.3

72

8

Anderson

LAA

593

5.0

77

9

Francisco

CLE

499

4.9

63

10

Thames

DET

342

4.7

44

11

Lind

TOR

349

4.7

43

12

Young

MIN

623

4.6

75

13

Crawford

TB

482

4.6

59

14

Boggs

TEX

334

4.5

38

15

Brown

OAK

438

3.6

43

16

Payton

BAL

364

3.4

34



After creating an amazing 10 runs per game in 2007, Magglio Ordonez dropped back to 6.0 RC/G in 2008. Now in his mid thirties, another year like 2008 would be satisfactory in 2009. The AL leaders were the surprising Shin-Soo Choo (7.7), Nick Markakis (7.2) and JD Drew (7.1).

Table 2: Runs Created by AL right fielders in 2008

Rank

Player

Team

PA

RC/G

RC

1

Choo

CLE

370

7.7

65

2

Markakis

BAL

697

7.2

115

3

Drew

BOS

456

7.1

74

4

Span

MIN

411

6.3

62

5

Abreu

NYA

684

6.1

103

6

Suzuki

SEA

749

6.0

110

7

Guerrero

LAA

600

6.0

92

8

Ordonez

DET

623

6.0

94

9

Dye

CHA

645

5.9

96

10

Sweeney

OAK

433

5.1

56

11

Rios

TOR

687

5.1

92

12

Murphy

TEX

454

5.0

59

13

Hinske

TB

432

5.0

56

14

Gross

TB

345

5.0

44

15

Teahen

KC

623

4.4

71

16

Guillen

KC

633

4.0

70

17

Matthews Jr.

LAA

477

3.9

49

18

Gutierrez

CLE

440

3.8

45



One reader asked whether Gary Sheffield had the lowest RC/G among designated hitters. He wasn't the worst but the once fearsome slugger finished only 8th out of 11 regular DHs. Sheffield can still hit when healthy (6.5 RC/G in 2007) but his age (he'll be 40 next season) and injury history make it unlikely he'll stay injury free. The leading designated hitters were Milton Bradley (8.4), Aubrey Huff (7.0) and David Ortiz (6.0).

Table 3: Runs Created by AL designated hitters in 2008

Rank

Player

Team

PA

RC/G

RC

1

Bradley

TEX

510

8.4

94

2

Huff

BAL

661

7.0

111

3

Ortiz

BOS

491

6.0

72

4

Matsui

NYA

378

5.7

52

5

Thome

CHA

602

5.6

83

6

Kubel

MIN

517

5.3

70

7

Stairs

TOR

368

4.4

42

8

Sheffield

DET

482

4.0

52

9

Butler

KC

478

4.0

51

10

Dellucci

CLE

375

3.8

39

11

Vidro

SEA

330

3.2

29

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