Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Rickey Henderson: Runs Created (RC): top 50 resorted by rate RC/PA.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/RC_career.shtml

Statistic Description: Runs Created A set of formulas developed by Bill James and others that estimates a player’s total contributions to a team’s runs total. This is computed with the "technical" formula when possible. If SB or CS data is missing, the "basic" formula is used. If HBP, IBB, SH, SF, or GIDP data is missing, the "stolen base" version of the formula is used.

Note that seasons prior to 1876 are not included in single-season marks, but are included in career marks.

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Say what?

I picked Runs Created out of a hat to try to provide more perspective on:

Rickey Henderson: top 10 all time? 20? 30? How about among outfielders? Sunday, March 3, 2024

But is Rickey really among the very best in the American League and National League since 1903? Let's look only at outfielders.

Rickey never played the infield in AL or NL...

Wow, Rickey is #9, a third stringer. But, of course, WAR is a total and totals reward longevity. Only Williams and Mantle had fewer than 10,000 PA and Rickey is second only to Aaron in PA...

But Rickey had high On Base Average...

Rickey is #16. Among those dropping out are Aaron, Mays, DiMaggio. Would you replace one of them with Rickey Henderson?

Do his SB really push Rickey Henderson into the top 20 OF?

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Enter Runs Created (RC).

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/RC_career.shtml

I copied the top 50 batters, which included 23 outfielders (OF), into a spreadsheet. I then took RC, which is a total, and divided it by Plate Appearances (PA) to create a rate. Click this link to view the spreadsheet.

The data to the right is presented below. It is sorted on RC/PA. Babe Ruth created an average of one fourth of a theoretical run (not real like a homer) for each PA. Stan Musial one fifth for each PA.

RunsRCRC/PAOF
RC/PAPlayer (yrs, age)CreatedPABatsRankRankRdifPosR
.25576Babe Ruth+ (22)2,71810,627L211OF1
.24438Ted Williams+ (19)2,3939,792L624OF2
.23094Lou Gehrig+ (17)2,2329,665L1037
.22941Barry Bonds (22)2,89212,606L14-3OF3
.22001Jimmie Foxx+ (20)2,1299,677R15510
.21538Rogers Hornsby+ (23)2,0429,481R19613
.20656Mickey Mantle+ (18)2,0479,910B18711OF4
.20514Manny Ramirez (19)2,0059,774R22814OF5
.20061Stan Musial+ (22)2,55212,721L39-6OF6
.19871Frank Thomas+ (19)2,00210,075R231013
.19549Todd Helton+ (17)1,8489,453L331122
.19306Jim Thome+ (22)1,99110,313L251213
.19179Ty Cobb+ (24)2,51313,103L513-8OF7
.18959Jeff Bagwell+ (15)1,7889,431R421428
.18892Willie Mays+ (23)2,37012,545R715-8OF8
.18761Al Simmons+ (20)1,7869,520R431627OF9
.18629Alex Rodriguez (22)2,27412,207R917-8
.18513Chipper Jones+ (19)1,96510,614B26188
.18284Henry Aaron+ (23)2,54913,941R419-15OF10
.18172Mel Ott+ (22)2,06211,347L1720-3OF11
.18155David Ortiz+ (20)1,83210,091L352114
.18120Frank Robinson+ (21)2,12811,744R1622-6OF13
.17903Tris Speaker+ (22)2,15212,020L1323-10OF14
.17777Gary Sheffield (22)1,94610,947R27243OF15
.17640Ken Griffey Jr.+ (22)1,99411,304L2425-1OF16
.17621Albert Pujols (22)2,29813,041R826-18
.17462Mike Schmidt+ (18)1,75710,062R462719
.17201Miguel Cabrera (21)2,02911,796R2128-7
.17058Eddie Mathews+ (17)1,72310,101L502921
.16935Rafael Palmeiro (20)2,04012,046L2030-10
.16681Paul Waner+ (20)1,79610,767L413110OF17
.16294Wade Boggs+ (18)1,75010,740L473215
.16215Rickey Henderson+ (25)2,16413,346R1233-21OF18
.16155George Brett+ (21)1,87811,625L3134-3
.16046Honus Wagner+ (21)1,88811,766R3035-5
.15927Al Kaline+ (22)1,84711,597R3436-2OF19
.15924Joe Morgan+ (22)1,80411,329L39372
.15921Cap Anson+ (27)1,80411,331R39381
.15692Carlos Beltrán (20)1,73111,031B48399OF20
.15511Reggie Jackson+ (21)1,77111,418L45405OF21
.15394Paul Molitor+ (21)1,87312,167R3241-9
.15330Carl Yastrzemski+ (23)2,14513,992L1442-28OF22
.15156Derek Jeter+ (20)1,91012,602R2943-14
.15152Eddie Murray+ (21)1,94212,817B2844-16
.14983Eddie Collins+ (25)1,81112,087L3845-7
.14683Adrián Beltré+ (21)1,78112,130R4446-2
.14671Dave Winfield+ (22)1,81312,358R3747-10OF23
.14651Craig Biggio+ (20)1,83212,504R3548-13
.13965Pete Rose (24)2,21915,890B1149-38
.13421Cal Ripken Jr.+ (21)1,72912,883R4950-1
RunsRCRC/PAOF
RC/PAPlayer (yrs, age)CreatedPABatsRankRankRdifPosR

Rickey Henderson drops from 12 to 33 among all top 50 batters in RC. Among OF Rickey is 18 of 23, a sixth stringer.

Some of these notable OF who did not make the cut of top 50 in RC might rank ahead of Rickey Henderson:

55 Billy Williams HoF
61 Tony Gwynn and Tim Raines HoF
77 Sam Crawford and Joe DiMaggio HoF
80 Roberto Clemente HoF
82 Willie Stargell HoF
92 Zack Wheat HoF
93 Duke Snider HoF
100 Dave Parker
102 Bernie Williams
111 Jim Edmonds
113. Mike Trout

Stop staring at Batting Average and Home Runs. Look at their percentage above the league. Sunday, January 30, 2022