Submissions
Who Were the Most Productive
Offensive Players in 2000?
by Bill Gilbert (billcgilbert@csi.com)
Since 1992, I have analyzed offensive performance each year using Bases per Plate Appearance (BPA) also referred to as Base Production Average. This measure accounts for the net bases accumulated by a player and is calculated as follows:
BPA = (TB + BB + HB + SB - CS - GIDP) / (AB + BB + HB + SF)
Where: BPA = Bases per Plate Appearance
TB = Total Bases
BB = Bases on Balls
HB = Hit by Pitch
SB = Stolen Bases
CS = Caught Stealing
GIDP = Grounded into Double Plays
AB = At Bats
SF = Sacrifice Flies
The numerator accounts for all of the bases accumulated by a player, reduced by the number of times he is caught stealing or erases another runner by grounding into a double play. The denominator accounts for the plate appearances when the player is trying to generate bases. Sacrifice hits are not included as plate appearances, since they represent the successful execution of the batter's attempts to advance another runner rather than himself.
Major league BPAs for the past seven years are shown below:
Year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
ML BPA .423 .446 .467 .463 .471 .465 .463 .479 .481
Players
over .550 13 29 38 37 41 34 41 50 50
Players
over .600 4 8 16 15 21 15 22 29 30
The major league average BPA of .481 in 2000 was an all-time high, surpassing the record set in 1999. This table clearly illustrates the increase in offense beginning in 1993, the year that the Colorado Rockies entered the National League.
Below is a listing of the nineteen individual .700 BPA seasons since 1990. There were five in 2000, Barry Bonds (.745), Manny Ramirez (.726), Todd Helton (.720), Carlos Delgado (.707) and Jason Giambi (.706). The two players who were over .700 in 1999, Mark McGwire (.735) and Larry Walker (.731), were injured in 2000 and did not have enough plate appearances to qualify in 2000. Bonds has 5 seasons over .700 since 1990, McGwire has 3 and Walker has 2. No one else has more than one.
Player Team Year BPA
Mark McGwire St. Louis 1998 .799
Larry Walker Colorado 1997 .770
Jeff Bagwell Houston 1994 .768
Mark McGwire Oakland 1996 .765
Frank Thomas Chicago (A) 1994 .747
Barry Bonds San Francisco 2000 .745
Albert Belle Cleveland 1994 .741
Barry Bonds San Francisco 1993 .740
Barry Bonds San Francisco 1994 .738
Mark McGwire St. Louis 1999 .735
Larry Walker Colorado 1999 .731
Barry Bonds Pittsburgh 1992 .730
Barry Bonds San Francisco 1996 .730
Manny Ramirez Cleveland 2000 .726
Todd Helton Colorado 2000 .720
Rickey Henderson Oakland 1990 .718
Ken Griffey, Jr. Seattle 1994 .708
Carlos Delgado Toronto 2000 .707
Jason Giambi Oakland 2000 .706
The yearly leaders since 1992 are as follows:
1992 Bonds .734 1997 Walker .770
1993 Bonds .740 1998 McGwire .799
1994 Bagwell .768 1999 McGwire .735
1995 Belle .692 2000 Bonds .745
1996 McGwire .765
The benchmark for an outstanding individual season is .600. Following is a list of 17 players with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title and with a BPA of .600 in both 1999 and 2000:
No. of
2000 1999 .600+
Player BPA LG BPA LG Seasons
1 Ramirez, M. .726 A .689 A 4
2 Helton, T. .720 N .610 N 2
3 Delgado, C. .707 A .612 A 3
4 Giambi, J. .706 A .603 A 2
5 Guerrero, V. .669 N .619 N 2
6 Sosa, S. .662 N .646 N 3
7 Rodriguez, A. .661 A .625 A 4
8 Bagwell, J. .652 N .676 N 6
9 Giles, B. .645 N .651 N 2
10 Everett, C. .631 A .640 N 2
11 Abreu, B. .629 N .630 N 2
12 Garciaparra, N. .626 A .639 A 2
13 Martinez, E. .621 A .615 A 6
14 Griffey, K. Jr. .613 N .646 A 7
15 Jones, C. .609 N .698 N 2
16 Palmeiro, R. .602 A .656 A 6
17 Thome, J. .601 A .623 A 6
Thirteen other players had a BPA over .600 in 2000 but were not on the list in 1999:
No. of
2000 1999 .600+
Player BPA LG BPA LG Seasons
1 Bonds, B. .745 N .696* N 10
2 Sheffield, G. .673 N .585 N 3
3 Hidalgo, R. .661 N .489* N 1
4 Thomas, F. .659 A .527 A 7
5 Glaus, T. .653 A .507 A 1
6 Edmonds, J. .650 N .485* A 1
7 Piazza, M. .631 N .560 N 3
8 Kent, J. .626 N .550 N 1
9 Jenkins, G. .621 N .588* N 1
10 Justice, D. .615 A .536 A 2
11 Alou, M. .611 N DNP* 3
12 Williams, B. .606 A .582 A 2
13 Rolen, S. .601 N .590* N 1
* Not enough plate appearances to qualify.
Twelve players were on the .600 BPA list in 1999 but failed to make the list in 2000. Injuries were a major factor as six failed to have enough plate appearances to qualify including Mark McGwire who was at the top of the list when he went down:
No. of
2000 1999 .600+
Player BPA LG BPA LG Seasons
1 McGwire, M. .794* N .735 N 6
2 Walker, L. .543* N .731 N 5
3 Green, S. .543 N .631 N 1
4 Burnitz, J. .525 N .624 N 2
5 Alomar, R. .550 A .622 A 1
6 Tatis, F. .537* N .620 N 1
7 Jaha, J. .406* A .618 A 1
8 Sanders, R. .479* N .611 N 2
9 Gonzalez, J. .510* A .609 A 4
10 Jeter, D. .546 A .609 A 1
11 Vaughn, G. .567 A .600 N 2
12 Belle, A. .481 A .600 A 5
* Not enough plate appearances to qualify.
Bonds has had a BPA of at least .623 every year since 1990. Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. each had six .600+ seasons in the 1990s. McGwire also has six .600 BPA seasons including his rookie year in 1987. Edgar Martinez and Jim Thome both have streaks of six straight .600 BPA seasons. Many prominent players, including Cal Ripken, Jr, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Joe Carter, Vinny Castilla and Mark Grace, didn't come close to having a .600 BPA season in the 1990s.
Of the newcomers to the 2000 list, the most interesting are Richard Hidalgo and Geoff Jenkins, who made it in the first year they had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title and Jeff Kent who made it for the first time in the 8th season he has qualified.
Looking at the other end of the spectrum, seven players who earned enough playing time to qualify for the batting title had BPAs under .400.
Warren Morris .398 Marquis Grissom .390
Mike Lamb .394 Rey Sanchez .336
Scott Brosius .391
The following eighteen players compiled a batting average over .300, an on-
base average over .400, a slugging percentage over .500 and bases per
plate appearance over .600 in 2000:
Player BAVG OBA SLG BPA
Barry Bonds .306 .440 .688 .745
Manny Ramirez .351 .457 .697 .726
Todd Helton .372 .463 .698 .720
Carlos Delgado .344 .470 .664 .707
Jason Giambi .333 .476 .647 .706
Gary Sheffield .325 .438 .643 .673
Vladimir Guerrero .345 .410 .664 .669
Sammy Sosa .320 .406 .634 .662
Alex Rodriguez .316 .420 .606 .661
Frank Thomas .328 .436 .625 .659
Jeff Bagwell .310 .424 .615 .652
Brian Giles .315 .432 .594 .645
Bobby Abreu .316 .416 .554 .629
Nomar Garciaparra .372 .434 .599 .626
Jeff Kent .334 .424 .596 .626
Edgar Martinez .324 .423 .579 .621
Moises Alou .355 .416 .623 .611
Chipper Jones .311 .404 .566 .609
Edgar Martinez has been on this list for the last six years and Bagwell has been on it for three. In 1999, there were twelve players on the list.
Another list of interest is one containing the names of players with a BPA of over .600 in
2000 who, for one reason or another, did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Following is a list of 12 players with 100 or more plate appearances who fell short of having enough playing time to qualify for the batting title:
Player BPA Comments
M. McGwire .794 On top when he went down with injury.
J. Vander Wal .633 Produced when given opportunity to start.
K. Caminiti .632 Having big year before injury.
E. Burks .631 A regular on this list.
I. Rodriguez .630 On target for best year when injured.
D. Hansen .619 Seven pinch-hit home runs.
C. Johnson .612 Finally put consistent offense with defense.
C. Floyd .610 Productive when healthy.
T. Hundley .608 Big comeback year.
A. Ochoa .607 Strong finish playing every day.
L. Berkman .607 Potential superstar.
G. Hill .601 BPA of .741 after trade to Yankees.
Several other players, in addition to Hill, were exceptionally productive after mid-season trades. Will Clark deserves special mention, finishing his career with a flourish as he produced a BPA of .685 after his trade to St. Louis, compared to .548 with Baltimore. Clark's overall BPA in 2000 was .568. He never had a .600 BPA season. Charles Johnson produced a .652 BPA with the White Sox after a .592 BPA at Baltimore. David Justice was consistent with a .611 BPA at Cleveland followed by a .618 with the Yankees. A change of scenery was a big help for Richie Sexson as he went from .480 at Cleveland to .614 at Milwaukee (.535 overall).
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