clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Looking at the Leaderboards: BABIP

RANK    PLAYER          TEAM    BABIP

1       Roger Clemens   HOU     0.235
2       Barry Zito      OAK     0.237
3       Pedro Martinez  NYN     0.242
4       Rich Harden     OAK     0.255
5       Joe Blanton     OAK     0.256
6       Carlos Zambrano CHN     0.257
7       Jose Contreras  CHA     0.261
8       Tony Armas Jr.  WAS     0.263
9       Roy Halladay    TOR     0.264
10      Bruce Chen      BAL     0.265
Of interest:

- Roger Clemens leads the league in BABIP allowed and is the only Houston pitcher on the list. From a man whose career BABIP allowed is around .286, you have to wonder how much of this season for him has just been luck. It's a great season either way (his DIPS ERA is under 3), but it's at least worth bringing up.
- With 3 Oakland pitchers on the list, either Oakland pitchers have all been very lucky (doubtful) or they've had extraordinary defensive work done behind them (more likely). If those 3 pitchers had given up BABIPs of .300, the A's would have lost 69 outs. Imagine what kind of runs those 69 outs could have been used to create. (Estimate on my part was 12.5 - 13, but I could be wrong.)
- Considering Pedro Martinez's BABIP of .242, it's almost a shock that he's allowed an ERA as high as 2.90, considering his peripherals. But consider this:

Pedro Martinez, Bases Empty: .182/.236/.325
Pedro Martinez, RISP: .221/.238/.374

This could be the source, even though the difference is a bit less than I imagined.