Here is the definition Power-Speed# from Baseball Reference:
"2 x (Home Runs x Stolen Bases)/(Stolen Bases + Home Runs). The harmonic mean of HR and SB. To do well you need a lot of both. Developed by Bill James."
A guy can steal alot of bases but still get caught alot, too. So it is extra impressive to lead in both PS# and SB% in the same year.
I used the annual league leader lists from Baseball Reference to try to find these guys. If I missed someone, please let me know.
|
Player |
Year |
HR |
SB |
PS# |
SB% |
|
Jethroe |
1951 |
18 |
35 |
23.8 |
87.5 |
|
Mays |
1955 |
51 |
24 |
32.6 |
85.71 |
|
Mays |
1956 |
36 |
40 |
37.9 |
80 |
|
Mantle |
1959 |
31 |
21 |
25 |
87.5 |
|
Mays |
1959 |
34 |
27 |
30.1 |
87.1 |
|
F. Robinson |
1961 |
37 |
22 |
27.6 |
88 |
|
Mays |
1962 |
49 |
18 |
26.3 |
90 |
|
L. Wagner |
1964 |
31 |
14 |
19.3 |
87.5 |
|
Wynn |
1965 |
22 |
43 |
29.1 |
91.49 |
|
Aaron |
1966 |
44 |
21 |
28.4 |
87.5 |
|
Aaron |
1968 |
29 |
28 |
28.5 |
84.85 |
|
R. Jackson |
1974 |
29 |
25 |
26.9 |
83.33 |
|
Lopes |
1979 |
28 |
44 |
34.2 |
91.67 |
I had a post recently with all the guys who led their league in Power-Speed# and won a Gold Glove in the same season. The only guy on that list who is also the list for this post is Willie Mays. Mays had two seasons when he won a Gold Glove and appeared on the list here, 1959 & 1962.
Lopes has the 2nd highest PS# among the players listed here and the highest SB%. He was 34 years old in 1979. Jethroe was 34 in 1951 as was Aaron in 1968.
Baseball
Reference has a minimum number of SB attempts of .1 per team game to
qualify for the league lead in SB%. So if a player has 16 attempts, he
qualifies.
In
1976, Willie Davis is listed as the NL leader with 87.5% (14-2).
But
The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition by Gary Gillette and Pete
Palmer has 20 SBs as the minimum. If we go with that, then Joe
Morgan leads in SB% (and he led in PS#, 37.2 with 27 HRs & 60 SBs).
In
1976, Joe Morgan had the highest SB% in the NL of anyone with 20+ SBs,
86.96% (60-9). He led the league in SLG with .576 and OBP with .444. He also won a Gold Glove in 1976. So if we go with 20+ SBs as the qualifier for SB%, then Morgan joins Mays as the only players to win a Gold Glove in the same season they led their league in both PS# and SB%. A very impressive year.
The following players led their league at least once in PS# while also leading at least once in SB% but never both in the same year. There could be others but these are all the guys I found. If you think I missed someone, let me know.
