Saturday, January 9, 2010

Was Edgar Martinez An Elite Hitter? Offensive Winning Percentage Says So

Offensive Winning Percentage (OWP) is the Bill James stat that says if all 9 hitters were identical, what would the team's winning percentage be if it gave up an average number of runs. The lists I show below are from the Lee Sinins Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, so the OWP they are based on is park adjusted.

The first list shows the leaders in number of seasons with a .700 OWP or greater. A .700 OWP will generally get you in the top 10 in your league for a given season. Here is everyone who did it 8 or more times. The players in red are not in the Hall of Fame. Everyone else is in or not eligible. There are 37 players on this list, to that puts Edgar Martinez in the top 37.

1 Ty Cobb 16
T2 Barry Bonds 15
T2 Willie Mays 15
T4 Babe Ruth 14
T4 Mel Ott 14
T4 Tris Speaker 14
T7 Ted Williams 13
T7 Mickey Mantle 13
T7 Stan Musial 13
T7 Hank Aaron 13
T11 Rogers Hornsby 12
T11 Roger Connor 12
T11 Honus Wagner 12
T11 Dan Brouthers 12
T11 Lou Gehrig 12
T16 Jim Thome 10
T16 Frank Robinson 10
T16 Manny Ramirez 10
T19 Frank Thomas 9
T19 Nap Lajoie 9
T19 Jimmie Foxx 9
T19 Eddie Mathews 9
T19 Ed Delahanty 9
T19 Albert Pujols 9
T19 Sam Crawford 9
T26 Joe Morgan 8
T26 Mike Schmidt 8
T26 Joe DiMaggio 8
T26 Billy Hamilton 8
T26 Cap Anson 8
T26 Rickey Henderson 8
T26 Eddie Collins 8
T26 Dick Allen 8
T26 Joe Jackson 8
T26 Johnny Mize 8
T26 Jesse Burkett 8
T26 Edgar Martinez 8

Here are some Hall of Famers who are behind Martinez on this list: Harry Heilmann, Rod Carew, Eddie Murray, Reggie Jackson, Wade Boggs, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey, George Brett, and Willie Stargell. Martinez also had one other season with .700 or better when he failed to qualify for the batting title (2002). But he had 407 plate appearances. If I used 400 plate appearances as the criteria, Martinez would be in the top 25 (in a 10 way tie for 21st). In that case he is the only eligible player not in the Hall of Fame.

The next list has the leaders in seasons with a .750 OWP or higher. A .750 OWP will usually get you in the top 5 in your league in any given year.

1 Ty Cobb 15
T2 Barry Bonds 14
T2 Babe Ruth 14
T4 Ted Williams 12
T4 Mickey Mantle 12
T6 Honus Wagner 11
T6 Dan Brouthers 11
T8 Lou Gehrig 10
T8 Tris Speaker 10
T8 Stan Musial 10
T11 Rogers Hornsby 9
T11 Ed Delahanty 9
T11 Mel Ott 9
T11 Willie Mays 9
15 Jimmie Foxx 8
T16 Eddie Collins 7
T16 Frank Thomas 7
T18 Elmer Flick 6
T18 Frank Robinson 6
T18 Edgar Martinez 6
T18 Cap Anson 6
T18 Eddie Mathews 6
T18 Pete Browning 6
T18 Albert Pujols 6

Here are some Hall of Famers who are behind Martinez on the second list:

Nap Lajoie
Billy Hamilton
Jesse Burkett
Wade Boggs
Hank Aaron
Joe Morgan
Harry Heilmann
Joe DiMaggio
Roger Connor
Willie McCovey
Willie Stargell
Johnny Mize
Frank Chance
King Kelly
Reggie Jackson

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