Modern baseball has become a game that is built around sabermetrics and in-depth analytical statistics. In other words, baseball has become sort of a nerd sport. If that’s the case, then I’m a nerd because I love the stats centered around the game of baseball. I love these stats so much so that I decided to try my hand at creating a new statistic that I designed to measure the overall value of a position player in the 2019 MLB season.
I’ve designed the OPVS, “Overall Player Value Statistic”, by combining several of my favorite metrics. My first goal of making this statistic was to incorporate all five tools in the game. I used the Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and FanGraphs’ Speed Score metric to measure fielding, speed, and baserunning ability.
I also used a variety of smaller statistics, to measure the strengths of a player. I decided to use Statcast numbers like expected Batting Average (xBA), expected Slugging Percentage (xSLG) and expected Weighted On-Base Average (xwOBA) to measure the expected performance of the player based on how the ball is being hit off their bat. I feel that these numbers better reflect a player’s ability with the bat than the simpler versions of them. To measure actual production, I chose to use Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) and FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement (fWAR) metric.
To calculate, I multiplied each number with a set weight. For example, if Mike Trout has a 179 wRC+, I’d multiply that by my set weight for wRC+, which is 0.80. The statistic not only measures the performance of the player, but it can give us a dose of what to expect from said player moving forward. This stat is still a work-in-progress, and I’m not going to release the formula to calculate it just yet. I’m going to drop the Top 50 rankings below, and you can evaluate them however you’d like. Lastly, before you get upset at someone ranked too high or too low, remember that defense and speed play a part in the overall numbers too. I hope you enjoy!
Top 50:
- Angels OF Mike Trout
- Brewers OF Christian Yelich
- Astros 3B Alex Bregman
- Dodgers OF Cody Bellinger
- Nationals 3B Anthony Rendon
- Diamondbacks OF Ketel Marte
- Astros OF George Springer
- Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts
- Athletics 3B Matt Chapman
- Red Sox OF Mookie Betts
- Brewers C Yasmani Grandal
- White Sox 3B Yoan Moncada
- Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado
- Yankees OF Aaron Judge
- Rockies SS Trevor Story
- Yankees IF DJ LeMahieu
- Mets OF Jeff McNeil
- Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers
- Indians SS Francisco Lindor
- Athletics OF Mark Canha
- Nationals OF Juan Soto
- Braves 3B Josh Donaldson
- Cubs SS Javier Báez
- Twins DH Nelson Cruz
- Reds 3B Eugenio Suarez
- Twins OF Max Kepler
- Mets 1B Peter Alonso
- Astros 2B Jose Altuve
- Yankees 3B Gio Urshela
- Cubs 3B Kris Bryant
- Rays OF Austin Meadows
- Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo
- Dodgers 2B Max Muncy
- Phillies OF Bryce Harper
- Athletics 1B Matt Olson
- Braves OF Ronald Acuña Jr.
- Astros OF Michael Brantley
- Athletics OF Ramon Laureano
- Yankees 2B Gleyber Torres
- White Sox SS Tim Anderson
- Indians 1B Carlos Santana
- Pirates OF Bryan Reynolds
- Braves 2B Ozzie Albies
- Dodgers 3B Justin Turner
- Cardinals SS Paul DeJong
- Yankees OF Brett Gardner
- Braves 1B Freddie Freeman
- Twins 3B Miguel Sano
- Astros 1B Yuli Gurriel
- Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez
Thank you for checking out my new stat and corresponding rankings! I hope you found it useful. Next week, be on the lookout for fan voting to open up for Diamond Digest’s 2019 MLB Awards. Have a great day! Peace!
Photo Credit: Getty Images
