Graph of the Day: Runs Above Average Breakdown for Philly's Offensive Core

by adarowski on May 18, 2010 6:53 AM EDT in Visuals Above Replacement

Following up on our recent discussion of the most underrated players in baseball, a few of us BtB'ers thought a value breakdown graph of some top Phillies hitters might be in order. After all, it was Chase Utley who topped the "underrated" list (tied with Shin-Soo Choo). We stat geeks often like to put him on a pedestal above one of his more overrated teammates. This graph provides me an opportunity do that without saying a word—just providing numbers. Or a picture. Or... you know what I mean.

A few casual observations:

Wow, who knew Ryan Howard was a plus defender? Not I.
I expect to be called names for having Jayson Werth's bat displaying as being, well... werth more than Ryan Howard's.
Chase Utley and Shane Victorino have that Alan Trammell-esque "I'm above average at everything I do" thing going for them. Utley also happens to be an elite hitter as well.
Jimmy Rollins is essentially a league average player with a positional adjustment tacked on. But an average player who plays shortstop is actually quite valuable.

Anything I missed?

(All data from Rally's WAR database — which is now on Baseball-Reference!)

Update: I did miss something! Per Sky's comment, total runs are:

Howard: 36 runs above average
Utley: 121 runs above average
Rollins: 21 runs above average
Victorino: 38 runs above average
Werth: 50 runs above average

There may be some slight inconsistencies with the graph above since B-R has an extra day of data now.

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Interesting that Jayson Werth has accumulated more batting runs than Ryan Howard in that time frame...

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by Sky Kalkman on May 18, 2010 7:48 AM EDT reply actions

I found that funny as well

It’s not by much, but essentially Werth beats out Howard in OBP by about 30 points (guessing, can’t remember the actual number), and those extra non-outs make up for all those home runs.

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by SFiercex4 on May 18, 2010 8:38 AM EDT up reply actions

On defense

Wow, who knew Ryan Howard was a plus defender?

If you watch the Phillies much, you’ll notice that he actually has decent range and that his glovework has vastly improved. His only real weakness in the field is his arm. He’s reportedly worked hard on his defense and it has clearly paid dividends.

If you remember, when Utley came up, he too was considered a poor defender. I always thought he was better than he was given credit for, but it took a couple years for him to shed the rep. I think it’s a similar situation with Howard.

by r.qatar on May 18, 2010 9:20 AM EDT reply actions

"If you watch the Phillies much"

That’s the thing… I don’t, and I’d never heard he was good in the field. Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense, as does the reasoning that it takes a couple years for the new reputation to take over.

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by adarowski on May 18, 2010 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions

I've actually been calling him an underrated fielder for a while.

I get far more flack than agreement, though.

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by philkid3 on May 18, 2010 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I love the style of this graph, Adam.

What fonts are you using?

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by Justin Bopp on May 18, 2010 10:58 AM EDT reply actions

That'd be Georgia

I try to stick to the web-safe fonts whenever possible… even when embedding them in graphics.

I so crazy!

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by adarowski on May 18, 2010 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

beautiful!

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by Justin Bopp on May 18, 2010 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Adam, do you have totals available for each player?

Not sure if I want to see them on the graph or not — maybe as a number written somewhere?

I could see some situations where I’d want to see playing time runs, too (replacement runs). Too much would clutter this up, though.

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by Sky Kalkman on May 18, 2010 2:05 PM EDT reply actions

I added it to the post

Kind of jaw-dropping…

Howard: 36 runs above average
Utley: 121 runs above average
Rollins: 21 runs above average
Victorino: 38 runs above average
Werth: 50 runs above average

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by adarowski on May 18, 2010 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

That sounds like a description of a team built to win a championship.

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by Justin Bopp on May 18, 2010 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I know we all aready knew Chase Utley was awesome but holy crap

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by RhodeIslandRoxfan on May 18, 2010 3:45 PM EDT reply actions

Positive everything

Think about it… most players have a category that brings them down. If they’re a masher, their positional adjustment and perhaps fielding brings them down. If they’re a high-value position guy with a slick glove, their hitting usually suffers.

Then you get guys like Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker who are above average at everything. They don’t have that one skill that you point to and think “boom, Hall of Famer”. But they did everything so well (and didn’t have a flaw) that it all adds up to Hall of Fame-level performance.

Chase Utley is doing what Trammell and Whitaker did, but is also a masher. This is downright legendary. I’m not going to say he’s Hornsby-esque, but there really isn’t a better comparison. I’d say Joe Morgan, but Morgan was a below-average defender.

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by adarowski on May 18, 2010 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions

What's funny is that some players are lauded for being great all-around players. (All sports, even.)

But sometimes that just means you never get known for anything specific. Why the difference for different players, do you think?

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by Sky Kalkman on May 18, 2010 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions

It's like saying someone "has a great personality"

It means you’re not hot. You don’t have that specific trait that people are drawn to (looks, home runs). Everybody likes you and wants to be your friend, but they you’re not the first they think of when punching an All Star ballot or seeking a significant other.

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by adarowski on May 18, 2010 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I feel like pretty much every time we see someone take a closer look at Utley by the numbers

you come away with a firm reminder that we’re watching one of the great players of all time. He got a late start to his career relatively, but for a half-decade he’s been a truly special player.

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by Satchel Price on May 18, 2010 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions