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Name That Stat: What Do These Players Have In Common?

In the mystery metric, Charlie Morton has the highest rate in baseball since the start of the 2009 season.
In the mystery metric, Charlie Morton has the highest rate in baseball since the start of the 2009 season.

I'm going to try something a bit different this week: a baseball statistics riddle. Below, I've listed the players who rank at the top and bottom of a certain metric (of my devising). Your job is simply to guess what metric I have used to rank the players.

This is not a fancy metric--in fact, it is a simple ratio expressed as a percentage. Both the denominator and the numerator (a subset of the denominator) are basic statistics, albeit not ones that are listed on the back of baseball cards. I guarantee that you have heard of both parts, even if you have never thought to look them up for a given player.

In other words, I'm not trying to trick you. You don't need arcane knowledge to solve the puzzle.

The numbers were calculated from the start of 2009 through the games of this past Friday (4/27). I set a minimum of 150 IP for pitchers and 500 PA for hitters, resulting in a data set of 311 pitchers and 396 hitters. Here we go:

Top 10 Hitters

  1. Cesar Izturis, 41%
  2. Bengie Molina, 40%
  3. Robinson Cano, 40%
  4. Kazuo Matsui, 39%
  5. Pedro Feliz, 39%
  6. Aaron Miles, 36%
  7. Jason Kendall, 36%
  8. Brett Wallace, 35%
  9. Jose Guillen, 35%
  10. Shane Victorino, 34%

Top 10 Pitchers

  1. Charlie Morton, 36%
  2. Luke Gregerson, 34%
  3. Joakim Soria, 32%
  4. Michael Wuertz, 32%
  5. Todd Wellemeyer, 31%
  6. Dontrelle Willis, 31%
  7. Luke Hochevar, 31%
  8. Jamey Wright, 31%
  9. Carlos Carrasco, 30%
  10. Jeff Samardzija, 30%

Bottom 10 Hitters

  1. Alberto Gonzalez, 3%
  2. Matt Diaz, 7%
  3. Delwyn Young, 7%
  4. Ross Gload, 7%
  5. Shelley Duncan, 7%
  6. J.P. Arencibia, 8%
  7. Chris Iannetta, 9%
  8. Ivan Rodriguez, 10%
  9. Johnny Damon, 10%
  10. Scott Sizemore, 10%

Bottom 10 Pitchers

  1. Huston Street, 4%
  2. Koji Uehara, 4%
  3. Matt Thornton, 6%
  4. Scott Linebrink, 6%
  5. Brian Moehler, 6%
  6. Brian Wilson, 6%
  7. Erik Bedard, 7%
  8. Guillermo Mota, 7%
  9. Jonathan Papelbon, 7%
  10. Carl Pavano, 8%

I'll even give you a few other notables. The following hitters ranked in the top 30: Pablo Sandoval, David Eckstein, Albert Pujols, & Miguel Olivo. On the other end of the scale, these hitters ranked in the bottom 30: Josh Willingham, Luke Scott, David Ortiz, & Dan Uggla.

For pitchers, the following notables finished in the top 30: Jonathan Broxton, Jake Westbrook, Josh Tomlin, and Edinson Volquez. Meanwhile, these pitchers were in the bottom 30: Brandon Lyon, Jake Peavy, Roy Halladay, and Johan Santana.

Make your guesses in the comments, or send them to me on Twitter (@junkstats). I'll put the answer in a post later this week. I may also give some hints in the comment section if needed.