Friday, January 25, 2019

Edgar Martinez same OPS+ as 4 other Hall of Famers but way behind in fielding innings.

Edgar Martinez was elected to Hall of Fame with three pitchers, including relief pitcher Mariano Rivera (1,283 innings). Martinez is tied with four other Hall of Fame players in OPS+ since 1903:

RkPlayerPAOPS+FromToAgeGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBIBBSOHBPSHSFGDPSBCSBAOBPSLGOPSPosTm
1Jim Thome103131471991201220-41254384221583232845126612169917471732548691741651920.276.402.554.9563D5HCLE-PHI-CHW-LAD-MIN-BAL
2Mike Schmidt100621471972198922-39240483521506223440859548159515072011883791610815617492.267.380.527.908*53/H64PHI
3Willie McCovey96921471959198021-42258881971229221135346521155513452601550695701762622.270.374.515.889*3H7/9DSFG-SDP-OAK
4Willie Stargell90271471962198222-4223607927119422324235547515409372271936789751431716.282.360.529.889*73H/98PIT
5Edgar Martinez86741471987200424-412055721312192247514153091261128311312028910771904930.312.418.515.933*D5/H3SEA

POS is primary fielding position, including DH, which obviously is not a fielding position; sorted by PA:

TotalDH% innings
PosPAInningsInn/PAPADH/Totmore than Martinez
Thome1B10,31313,6571.323,45133.5%182.8%
Schmidt3B10,06220,3252.0200.0%320.9%
McCovey1B9,69218,8171.94250.3%289.7%
StargellOF9,02717,9561.9900.0%271.8%
MartinezDH8,6744,829.566,21871.7%
RiveraP41,283320.7500.0%-73.4%

72%. That's the percent of plate appearances (PA) that Martinez had as a designated hitter. Among these five batters, only Thome had a significant percent of PA as DH.

Schmidt played 321% more innings in the field than Martinez. Playing the field takes time and effort. It exposes the player to injury. Martinez did not have those factors detracting from his batting performance nearly as much as these players who still achieved the same production in the batter's box.

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