John Principe

Hey everyone! I’m John and I’m a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. I’m a huge baseball fan and an even bigger Red Sox fan. Which easily makes my favourite baseball memory Dave Roberts’ steal in the 2004 ALCS. It was one of my first big baseball memories that I had and I’ll never forget it. The reason I actually started being a Red Sox fan, was by hating the Yankees (figures). I was six years old watching the playoffs, hearing all the commentators talking about the big, bad Yankees potentially eliminating Boston once again. In typical Canadian fashion, I felt bad for the Red Sox. Especially after the Aaron Boone home run in that ALCS. I hated the Yankees so much at the time — it seemed like everyone did — and the only logical way to counter my hate for them, was to become a Red Sox fan. And here we are 16 years later. If I had to list my favourite baseball stat, it would probably be wRC+. Of all the stats and analytics we have available, I find wRC+ still, as the best measure of a player’s offensive ability. Getting something down to that one number is crucial, and the one number that ends up being their wRC+, seems to me to be the most telling of a player’s overall hitting ability.