Max Scherzer Dominates NL Run Prevention Leader Boards

Earlier, I posted the American League run prevention leaders.  Now, for the National League. 

There is no surefire way to determine the best pitchers in the league, but a pitcher's job is to prevent runs.  So, it's useful to estimate how many runs pitchers saved their teams compared to an average pitcher.  In the past, I have explored four different ways to do this:    

• Pitching Runs -  Runs Saved Above Average based on innings and runs allowed. 

• Adjusted Pitching Runs - Pitching Runs minus estimated Runs allowed by fielders. 

• Base Runs -  Runs Saved Above Average based on batters faced and hits, walks, total bases and home runs allowed.

• FIP Runs - Runs Saved Above Average based on innings, bases on balls, hit batsmen and home runs allowed and strikeouts.

These measures are discussed in more detail in an earlier post.  After computing them, you can aggregate them using weights depending on which measures you trust the most. I chose to take a simple average.

The 2015 National League leaders as of June 22 are listed in Table 1 below.  Former Tigers right hander, now of the Nationals, Max Scherzer leads the league in all the above categories - Pitching Runs (24), Adjusted Pitching Runs (26), Base Runs (24) and FIP Runs (25).  That gives him an aggregate of 25 runs prevented compared to an average pitcher.  Zach Greinke of the Dodgers is second with 18 runs prevented.  

Table 1: NL Run Prevention Leaders, 2014

Pitcher	Team	IP	Pitching Runs	Adjusted Pitching Runs	Base Runs	FIP Runs	Average
Max Scherzer	WSN	102.1	24	26	24	25	25
Zack Greinke	LAD	94.2	23	21	17	11	18
Gerrit Cole	PIT	91	18	17	16	15	16
A.J. Burnett	PIT	92.1	18	18	11	14	15
Jacob deGrom	NYM	92.1	15	15	18	13	15
Shelby Miller	ATL	90.1	17	17	15	8	15
Chase Anderson	ARI	79.1	11	12	9	10	10
Cole Hamels*	PHI	94.1	11	15	9	6	10
Francisco Liriano	PIT	88.1	8	7	15	11	10
Michael Wacha	STL	88.1	11	9	11	9	10
Johnny Cueto	CIN	90.2	10	9	11	9	10
Jake Arrieta	CHC	91	7	9	10	13	10
Matt Harvey	NYM	93.1	10	9	9	6	9
Jason Hammel	CHC	84	6	7	11	10	9
Clayton Kershaw*	LAD	100	5	3	12	14	8
Madison Bumgarner	SFG	93.1	11	7	9	6	8
Carlos Martinez	STL	80.1	11	10	5	4	7
Mike Bolsinger	LAD	53.1	7	6	6	5	6
Lance Lynn	STL	73.1	7	6	2	10	6
Dan Haren	MIA	87.1	9	9	6	-3	6
John Lackey	STL	89.2	5	4	5	6	5
Aaron Harang	PHI	95	3	7	6	2	5
Brett Anderson*	LAD	82	7	5	4	3	4
Tyson Ross	SDP	89.2	2	2	1	10	4

Data source: Baseball-Reference.com