Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Which Players Participated in Highest Percentage of Teams' Runs in 2015?

NL MVP Bryce Harper participated in more than a third of  Washington's runs in 2015.
(Photo credit: Patrick Smith, Getty Images)

In previous posts, I presented the Runs Assisted (RAS) statistic and updated an old one (Runs Participated In or RPI).  A player gets credit for a Run Assisted in the following instances: 
  • A batter advances a runner to either second or third with a hit, base on balls, hit batsmen, error, sacrifice bunt, or another kind of out.  If that runner then scores either during the same at bat or an ensuing at bat, the batter who advanced him is given a Run Assisted.
  • A batter reaches base and is removed for a pinch runner or is replaced by another runner on a force out.  If the new runner then scores, the batter who originally reached base is given a Run Assisted.
A Run Assisted is similar to an assist in hockey because a player doesn't actually score the run/goal, but helps to make it happen.  You could also say that the RBI is like the first assist in hockey and the Run Assisted is like the second assist.  Either way, I think the hockey analogy is apt.

A player gets credit for a Run Participated In if he either scores a run, drives in a run or assists a run, but he can't get double credit for any one run.  The formula is RPI = R + RBI + RAS - HR.  The limitations of these measures were discussed in detail in the above linked posts.

Runs Participated In is a counting statistic which is influenced by opportunity, so it's good to also have a rate measure.  One possibility is Runs Participated In Percentage (RPI%) which is the percentage of a teams' runs in which a player participated.  For example, Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler participated in 200 runs out of 689 total runs for the Tigers in 2015, so he had a 29% RPI%.  

In Table 1, it is seen that White Sox outfielder Jose Abreu led the American League with a 33.3 RPI%. The National League leader was Nationals slugger Bryce Harper with 34.3% (Table 2). Kinsler and right fielder JD Martinez paced the Tigers with 29% (Table 3).

Table 1: AL Runs Participated In Leaders, 2015
Player
Team
Team Runs
RPI
RPI%
Jose Abreu
CHA
622
207
33.3
Eric Hosmer
KCA
724
226
31.2
Kendrys Morales
KCA
724
219
30.2
Robinson Cano
SEA
656
197
30.0
Chris Davis
BAL
713
214
30.0
Mike Trout
ANA
661
194
29.3
Josh Donaldson
TOR
891
261
29.3
Shin-Soo Choo
TEX
751
219
29.2
Ian Kinsler
DET
689
200
29.0
J.D. Martinez
DET
689
200
29.0
Prince Fielder
TEX
751
216
28.8
Adam Eaton
CHA
622
178
28.6
Xander Bogaerts
BOS
748
213
28.5
Lorenzo Cain
KCA
724
205
28.3
Michael Brantley
CLE
669
189
28.3
Data source:Retrosheet

Table 2: NL Runs Participated In Leaders, 2015
Player
Team
Team Runs
RPI
RPI%
Bryce Harper
WAS
703
241
34.3
Anthony Rizzo
CHN
689
228
33.1
Andrew McCutchen
PIT
697
220
31.6
Matt Kemp
SDN
650
205
31.5
Paul Goldschmidt
ARI
720
227
31.5
Joey Votto
CIN
640
198
30.9
Kris Bryant
CHN
689
205
29.8
A.J. Pollock
ARI
720
214
29.7
Nolan Arenado
COL
737
219
29.7
Matt Duffy
SFN
696
203
29.2
Matt Carpenter
SLN
647
185
28.6
Buster Posey
SFN
696
198
28.4
Todd Frazier
CIN
640
181
28.3
Starling Marte
PIT
697
196
28.1
Ryan Braun
MIL
655
184
28.1
Data source:Retrosheet

Table 3: Tigers Runs Participated In Leaders, 2015
Player
Team Runs
RPI
RPI%
Ian Kinsler
689
200
29.0
J.D. Martinez
689
200
29.0
Miguel Cabrera
689
169
24.5
Nick Castellanos
689
135
19.6
Yoenis Cespedes
689
132
19.2
Victor Martinez
689
125
18.1
Anthony Gose
689
121
17.6
Rajai Davis
689
98
14.2
Jose Iglesias
689
94
13.6
James McCann
689
87
12.6
Andrew Romine
689
58
8.4
Tyler Collins
689
58
8.4
Alex Avila
689
42
6.1
Jefry Marte
689
20
2.9
Dixon Machado
689
15
2.2
Data source:Retrosheet

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