Batting higher than one's BABIP

by Lefti on Apr 20, 2010 10:54 PM EDT

My dad and I were talking about the possibility of someone hitting .400, and as I was looking around Fangraphs to pull some relevant numbers, I noticed that Albert Pujols has outhit his BABIP in every season of his career, except his first. I imagine everyone here doesn't need me to explain it, but that is definitely unusual, as strikeouts tend to depress BA more below BABIP than home runs raise them.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting is that I was wondering how many other players have managed that; I tried a few names, but the only ones I came up with were Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, and Babe Ruth. Does anyone have a database they can query to come up with more? Or am I being dumb and has someone already studied this sort of thing?

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Database

One way you can look at the data is to go to Fangraphs Career Leaderboards and export the advanced table to excel. There you would be able to compare career AVG to career BABIP.

by metric on Apr 21, 2010 10:44 AM EDT reply actions

Thanks for the tip

That worked quite well. Here’s some names on the list I never would have suspected:

Gary Sheffield
Harmon Killebrew (did you know his BABIP for his career was only .254???)
Carlos Quentin (again, another guy with a really low career BABIP)
Mark McGwire (ditto)

Brewers Baseball and other assorted nonsense (mostly the assorted nonsense) at my blog, What's a Tararrel?

by Lefti on Apr 21, 2010 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions

The guys who outhit their BABIP are the guys who hit more homeruns than they strike out

So, I’m surprised to see McGwire on the list, I guess I thought he struck out more than he did.

"Pinch-bunters don't have a ton of value, even with the Twins"

by Steven Ellingson on Apr 21, 2010 1:55 PM EDT reply actions

I mean, 26% of the time is still a lot of strikeouts

He was just a fly ball/home run machine.

I like baseball.
I write for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times Fantasy

by Satchel Price on Apr 21, 2010 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Wouldn't it be guys who who have a HR/(HR+SO) rate higher than their BABIP?

So it’s not one-to-one, but about 1:2 HR to SO (could vary widely depending on BABIP)

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by Sky Kalkman on Apr 21, 2010 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions

for example, a .300 BABIP requires at least .3 HR/(HR+SO)

That’s 3 HRs for every 7 SOs

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by Sky Kalkman on Apr 21, 2010 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Doing some back of the envelope math

I came up with K/HR < 1/BA – 1, although that’s defining BABIP to not include sac flies. That may be equivalent to what you came up with.

Brewers Baseball and other assorted nonsense (mostly the assorted nonsense) at my blog, What's a Tararrel?

by Lefti on Apr 21, 2010 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions

To be clear

K/HR < (1/BA) -1, and that’s what you have to do to hit higher than your BABIP.

So a big thing that sluggers like McGwire, Killebrew, et al have going for them, is that starting with a lower BA to begin with helps you tremendously; if you’re a .256 hitter like Killebrew, you can strike out nearly three times as often as you homer, but if you’re a .334 hitter like Prince Albert, you have to strike out less than twice as often as you homer.

Brewers Baseball and other assorted nonsense (mostly the assorted nonsense) at my blog, What's a Tararrel?

by Lefti on Apr 21, 2010 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Good stuff, thanks.

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by Sky Kalkman on Apr 21, 2010 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, exactly

I think I’ll do a FanPost about the list itself at some point, but looking at it, it seems to fall into two main categories (well, three, if you include 19th centuries for whom the game was just so different): Good contact guys with a bit of pop, and pure sluggers with ridiculously low BABIPs for their career. McGwire, of course, falls into the latter.

Brewers Baseball and other assorted nonsense (mostly the assorted nonsense) at my blog, What's a Tararrel?

by Lefti on Apr 21, 2010 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually, I guess there should be another category

For just all-around greats who could hit for average and power, a la Ruth, Williams, Mays, Bonds, etc.

Brewers Baseball and other assorted nonsense (mostly the assorted nonsense) at my blog, What's a Tararrel?

by Lefti on Apr 21, 2010 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Albert Belle just barely

"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker

by Resolution on Apr 26, 2010 4:38 PM EDT reply actions

Ted Williams' BABIP in 1941 was only about .378 IIRC

Just thought I’d mention that… christ, but that was a dominant season. He wasn’t even that lucky and he still had an OPS over 1.200.

Shawn Spencer: Ahoy there! Um, yes. Right! My name is Shawn Spencer! This is my first mate Hummingbird Saltalamacchia!
Burton Guster: Hello!
Shawn Spencer: We were turned around-- discombobulated! We... we just now realized we're in restricted waters.
Burton Guster: Just now! And we both have hepatitis!

by PaulThomas on Apr 26, 2010 6:50 PM EDT reply actions