Similarity Scores Redone Using WAR Values
Baseball Reference has a section where it using a Bill James formula to look for players that similar to a player called Similarity Scores. It works well for offense stats, but doesn't take into account defensive stats. I decided to use the WAR values from Baseball Projection to find find players with similar scores. Using a version of RMSE on each individual component values, I took the difference of each value, squared the differences and then summed these squared differences together.
I ran the numbers for a few position players (here's where I looked at a few Royals). Aside from the the 10 most similar players, I added a few others, including: Edmonds, Piazza, and Whitaker.
Jim Rice
Name | Birth Year | Difference | Total WAR | |
Rice Jim | 1953 | 0 | 42 | |
1 | Cepeda Orlando | 1937 | 134 | 47 |
2 | Canseco Jose | 1964 | 157 | 42 |
3 | Downing Brian | 1950 | 159 | 49 |
4 | Sisler George | 1893 | 167 | 50 |
5 | Perez Tony | 1942 | 170 | 51 |
6 | Powell Boog | 1941 | 180 | 40 |
7 | Slaughter Enos | 1916 | 182 | 54 |
8 | Wheat Zack | 1888 | 186 | 58 |
9 | Ryan Jimmy | 1863 | 187 | 45 |
10 | Ordonez Magglio | 1974 | 187 | 35 |
11 | Mattingly Don | 1961 | 189 | 40 |
12 | Garvey Steve | 1948 | 190 | 36 |
13 | Colavito Rocky | 1933 | 196 | 46 |
14 | Hrbek Kent | 1960 | 201 | 35 |
16 | Cooper Cecil | 1949 | 202 | 35 |
Jim Edmonds
Ranking | Name | Birth Year | Difference | Total WAR |
Edmonds Jim | 1970 | 0 | 67 | |
1 | Childs Cupid | 1867 | 171 | 47 |
2 | Baker Frank | 1886 | 175 | 64 |
3 | Smith Reggie | 1945 | 187 | 63 |
4 | Medwick Joe | 1911 | 200 | 56 |
5 | Beckley Jake | 1867 | 207 | 62 |
6 | Cash Norm | 1934 | 221 | 53 |
7 | Minoso Minnie | 1925 | 228 | 53 |
8 | Abreu Bobby | 1974 | 229 | 57 |
9 | Averill Earl | 1902 | 230 | 45 |
10 | Hines Paul | 1855 | 231 | 42 |
12 | Walker Larry | 1966 | 240 | 67 |
15 | Kent Jeff | 1968 | 243 | 59 |
23 | Lynn Fred | 1952 | 257 | 47 |
26 | Colavito Rocky | 1933 | 264 | 46 |
Mike Piazza
Name | Birth Year | Difference | Total WAR | |
Piazza Mike | 1968 | 0 | 59 | |
1 | Johnson Bob | 1905 | 204 | 53 |
2 | Guerrero Vladimir | 1975 | 233 | 57 |
3 | Thompson Sam | 1860 | 234 | 47 |
4 | Belle Albert | 1966 | 234 | 37 |
5 | Berkman Lance | 1976 | 235 | 45 |
6 | Tiernan Mike | 1867 | 237 | 46 |
7 | Kelley Joe | 1871 | 238 | 56 |
8 | O'Rourke Jim | 1850 | 242 | 54 |
9 | Alou Moises | 1966 | 246 | 38 |
10 | Kiner Ralph | 1922 | 251 | 46 |
11 | Jackson Joe | 1889 | 253 | 63 |
12 | Clark Jack | 1955 | 255 | 55 |
14 | Helton Todd | 1973 | 260 | 58 |
16 | Delgado Carlos | 1972 | 273 | 44 |
17 | Clark Will | 1964 | 274 | 58 |
Lou Whitaker
Name | Birth Year | Difference | Total WAR | |
Whitaker Lou | 1957 | 0 | 70 | |
1 | Ashburn Richie | 1927 | 159 | 58 |
2 | Bando Sal | 1944 | 173 | 61 |
3 | Sandberg Ryne | 1959 | 182 | 62 |
4 | Frisch Frankie | 1898 | 188 | 75 |
5 | Boyer Ken | 1931 | 193 | 58 |
6 | Randolph Willie | 1954 | 200 | 61 |
7 | Grich Bobby | 1949 | 203 | 68 |
8 | Herman Billy | 1909 | 213 | 56 |
9 | Alomar Roberto | 1968 | 221 | 64 |
10 | Trammell Alan | 1958 | 224 | 67 |
13 | Phillips Tony | 1959 | 229 | 48 |
14 | Beltran Carlos | 1977 | 230 | 55 |
17 | Santo Ron | 1940 | 238 | 66 |
21 | Evans Darrell | 1947 | 244 | 57 |
Nomar Garciaparra
Name | Birth Year | Difference | Total WAR | |
Garciaparra Nomar | 1973 | 0 | 43 | |
1 | Groh Heinie | 1889 | 60 | 46 |
2 | Sutton Ezra | 1850 | 109 | 38 |
3 | Lankford Ray | 1967 | 114 | 38 |
4 | Bresnahan Roger | 1879 | 117 | 42 |
5 | Nash Billy | 1865 | 121 | 36 |
6 | Doerr Bobby | 1918 | 125 | 48 |
7 | Clift Harlond | 1912 | 125 | 35 |
8 | Stephens Vern | 1920 | 127 | 44 |
9 | Schang Wally | 1889 | 128 | 44 |
10 | McGann Dan | 1871 | 134 | 36 |
11 | Glaus Troy | 1976 | 136 | 34 |
15 | Campanella Roy | 1921 | 142 | 36 |
26 | Beltran Carlos | 1977 | 159 | 55 |
27 | Mora Melvin | 1972 | 163 | 27 |
29 | Caminiti Ken | 1963 | 163 | 33 |
How do these compare with your expectations?