Magglio Ordonez, Rusty Staub Among Best Tigers at Advancing Runners

This a continuation of my series on runner advancement statistics for batters.  Other posts are listed below:

• Introduction to Advancement Stats

• Amending the advancement stats

• Advancement by team and Tigers players, 2012

• Advancement leaders, 1950-2012

In this piece, I'll look at advancement for Tigers batters since 1950, the first complete year of the retrosheet database.  The columns in the tables below are as follows:

• OPP - Runners on base in batters plate appearances excluding neutral results (i.e. no base runner advancement and no outs on play).

• ADV - Base runners advanced.

• ADV% - Percentage of base runners advanced.

• ADVAA - Base runners Advanced Above Average.

 Table 1 shows that the highest advancement percentage was by third baseman Ray Boone in 1953 at .550.  Boone came to the Tigers as part of an eight-player deal in June of that year and proceeded to bat .312/.395/.556 in 101 games. Second on the list was outfielder Charlie Maxwell (.538) in 1956.  The "Sunday Slugger" (named for for his propensity for hitting home runs on Sundays), batted .326/.414/.534 in 592 plate appearances.

Table 2 tells us that Magglio Ordonez had the Tigers highest single-season ADVAA (50) during his historic 2007 season.  His ADV% was (.524) was the third highest percentage for a Tiger since 1950.  Victor Martinez had 49 ADVAA in 2011.

Table 1: Tigers Singe-season Advance Percentage Leaders, 1950-2012

Player	Year	OPP	ADV	ADV%
Ray Boone	1953	282	155	.550
Charlie Maxwell	1956	379	204	.538
Magglio Ordonez	2007	489	256	.524
Al Kaline	1961	384	201	.523
Rusty Staub	1976	407	213	.523
Al Kaline	1955	423	221	.522
Al Kaline	1963	347	181	.522
Norm Cash	1961	440	229	.520
Steve Kemp	1980	395	204	.516
Victor Martinez	2011	433	223	.515

Table 2: Tigers Single-season Advances Above Average Leaders, 1950-2012

Player	Year	OPP	ADV	ADVAA
Magglio Ordonez	2007	489	256	50
Victor Martinez	2011	433	223	49
Norm Cash	1961	440	229	48
Rusty Staub	1976	407	213	48
Al Kaline	1955	423	221	46
Al Kaline	1963	347	181	45
Charlie Maxwell	1956	379	204	43
Al Kaline	1961	384	201	43
Miguel Cabrera	2011	414	206	40
Steve Kemp	1980	395	204	40

Table 3 lists left-handed slugger Rusty Staub with the Tigers best career ADV% since 1950 at .480. Staub played four seasons with the Tigers between 1976-1979 mostly as a designated hitter.  Ordonez had a .471 ADV% in seven seasons with the Tigers.

Finally, Table 4 shows the career ADVAA leaders starting with Al Kaline (316) and Norm Cash (205).   

Table 3: Tigers Career Advancement Percentage Leaders, 1950-2012

Player	OPP	ADV	ADV%
Rusty Staub	1516	728	.480
Magglio Ordonez	2342	1103	.471
Steve Kemp	1858	870	.468
Placido Polanco	1474	685	.465
Tony Phillips	1585	736	.464
Miguel Cabrera	2148	973	.453
Carlos Guillen	2110	954	.452
Bob Higginson	3148	1410	.448
Bill Bruton	1113	498	.447
Charlie Maxwell	2031	905	.446

Table 4: Tigers Career Advances Above Average Leaders, 1950-2012

Player	OPP	ADV	ADVAA
Al Kaline	6,991	3,113	316
Norm Cash	4,672	2,037	205
Lou Whitaker	5,433	2,388	160
Alan Trammell	5,637	2,448	135
Magglio Ordonez	2,342	1,103	134
Rusty Staub	1,516	728	105
Steve Kemp	1,858	870	104
Miguel Cabrera	2,148	973	101
Bob Higginson	3,148	1,410	83
Tony Phillips	1,585	736	80

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.  Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at Retrosheet.org.