HR/K RATIOS

Determined by taking HR and dividing them by strikeouts
(HR / K)

2004 Leaders
As of August 16th (for all hitters with 20 or more HR).

HR SO HR/K
B. Bonds 31/ 24/ 1.292
A. Pujols 37/ 38/ 0.974
T. Helton 26/ 44/ 0.591
M. Tejada 23/ 45/ 0.511
A. Beltre 33/ 65/ 0.508
M. Sweeney 22/ 44/ 0.500
G. Sheffield 27/ 55/ 0.491
M. Alou 27/ 59/ 0.458
A. Ramirez 23/ 52/ 0.442
V. Guerrero 25/ 58/ 0.431
S. Finley 24/ 56/ 0.429
A. Huff 22/ 52/ 0.423
P. Konerko 29/ 71/ 0.408
T. Batista 20/ 49/ 0.408
V. Martinez 20/ 50/ 0.400
C. Beltran 29/ 74/ 0.392
S. Rolen 28/ 75/ 0.373
M. Lowell 22/ 59/ 0.373
E. Chavez 21/ 59/ 0.356
J. Burnitz 31/ 88/ 0.352
M. Teixeira 28/ 80/ 0.350
J. Guillen 23/ 66/ 0.348
J. Drew 27/ 79/ 0.342
M. Mora 21/ 62/ 0.339
D. Ortiz 30/ 91/ 0.330
C. Lee 23/ 70/ 0.329
V. Castilla 25/ 79/ 0.316
M. Ramirez 30/ 96/ 0.313
H. Matsui 24/ 78/ 0.308
J. Thome 35/ 116/ 0.302
K. Griffey Jr. 20/ 67/ 0.299
C. Jones 20/ 68/ 0.294
A. Rodriguez 29/ 99/ 0.293
B. Abreu, 26/ 89/ 0.292
T. Hafner 23/ 80/ 0.288
S. Sosa 25/ 92/ 0.272
J. Edmonds 31/ 116/ 0.267
D. Lee 24/ 92/ 0.261
A. Dunn 36/ 139/ 0.259
A. Soriano 24/ 96/ 0.250
J. Valentin 26/ 107/ 0.243
W. Pena 21/ 87/ 0.241
M. Cabrera 25/ 107/ 0.234
H. Blalock 24/ 112/ 0.214
M. Cameron 25/ 119/ 0.210
B. Wilkerson 22/ 108/ 0.204
C. Blake 20/ 101/ 0.198
A. Jones 20/ 107/ 0.187
C. Wilson 21/ 123/ 0.171

ALL TIME LEADERS

Player Year HR K HR/K
L.Gehrig 1934/ 49/ 31/ 1.581
T.Kluszewski 1954/ 49/ 35/ 1.400
J.Dimaggio 1937/ 46/ 37/ 1.243
J.Mize 1947/ 51/ 42/ 1.214
T.Kluszewski 1953/ 40/ 34/ 1.176
T.Kluszewski 1955/ 47/ 40/ 1.175
M.Ott 1929/ 42 /38/ 1.105
J.Mize 1948/ 40 /37/ 1.081
L.Gehrig 1936 /49/ 46 1.065
B.Bonds 2002/ 46 /47/ 0.979
H.Aaron 1969/ 44 /47/ 0.936
R.Maris 1961/ 61 /67/ 0.910
B.Ruth 1931/ 46 /51/ 0.902
A.Rosen 1953/ 43 /48/ 0.896
T.Williams 1949 /43/ 48 0.896
R.Kiner 1949/ 54 /61/ 0.885
J.Mize 1940/ 43 /49/ 0.878
W.Mays 1955/ 51 /60/ 0.850
R.Hornsby 1922 /42/ 50 0.840
L.Gehrig 1931 /46/ 56 0.821
H.Aaron 1971/ 47 /58/ 0.810
B.Ruth 1930/ 49 /61/ 0.803
C.Klein 1930/ 40 /50/ 0.800
H.Aaron 1973/ 40 /51/ 0.784
B.Bonds 2003/ 45 /58/ 0.776
B.Ruth 1929/ 46 /60/ 0.767
R.Sievers 1957 /42/ 55 /0.764
F.Thomas 1993 /41/ 54 /0.759
H.Aaron 1957/ 44 /58/ 0.759
R.Kiner 1951/ 42 /57/ 0.737
W.Mays 1965/ 52 /71/ 0.732
H.Trosky 1936 /42/ 58/ 0.724
W.Mays 1954/ 41 /57/ 0.719
C.Williams 1923 /41/ 57/ 0.719
R.Campanella 1953 /41/ 58/ 0.707
C.Klein 1929/ 43 /61/ 0.705
T.Helton 2000 /42/ 61/ 0.689
W.McCovey 1969 /45/ 66/ 0.682
R.Palmeiro 1999 /47/ 69/ 0.681
V.Guerrero 1999 /42/ 62/ 0.677
A.Pujols 2003 /43/ 65/ 0.662
B.Ruth 1932/ 41 /62/ 0.661
E.Matthews 1954 /40/ 61/ 0.656
R.Kiner 1948/ 40/ 61/ 0.656
W.Mays 1964/ 47/ 72/ 0.653
L.Gehrig 1930/ 41/ 63/ 0.651
E.Mathews 1959/ 46/ 71/ 0.648
B.Williams 1970/ 42/ 65/ 0.646
C.Yaztrzemski 1967/ 44/ 69/ 0.638
G.Sheffield 1996/ 42/ 66/ 0.636
H.Aaron 1960/ 40/ 63/ 0.635
E.Banks 1959/ 45/ 72/ 0.625
E.Banks 1955/ 44/ 72/ 0.611
C.Yaztrzemski 1970 /40 /66/ 0.606
G.Sheffield 2000 /43 /71/ 0.606
H.Sauer 1954/ 41 /68 /0.603
E.Banks 1960/ 41 /69 /0.594
R.Petrocelli 1969/ 40/ 68/ 0.588
B.Ogilvie 1980/ 41/ 71/ 0.577
M.Piazza 1999/ 40/ 70/ 0.571
F.Thomas 1996/ 40/ 70/ 0.571

Leaders Last 20 Years
1984-2003

Player Year HR K HR/K
B.Bonds 2002 /46/ 47/ 0.979
B.Bonds 2001 /73/ 93/ 0.785
B.Bonds 2003 /45/ 58/ 0.776
F.Thomas 1993 /41/ 54/ 0.759
T.Helton 2000 /42/ 61/ 0.689
L.Gonzalez 2001 /57/ 83/ 0.687
R.Palmeiro 1999 /47/ 69/ 0.681
V.Guerrero 1999 /42/ 62/ 0.677
A.Pujols 2003 /43/ 65/ 0.662
B.Bonds 2000 /49/ 77/ 0.636
G.Sheffield 1996 /42/ 66/ 0.636
G.Bell 1987 /47/ 75/ 0.627
A.Belle 1995 /50/ 80/ 0.625
G.Sheffield 2000 /43/ 71/ 0.606
V.Guerrero 2000 /44/ 74/ 0.595
T.Martinez 1997 /44/ 75/ 0.587
A.Belle 1998 /49/ 84/ 0.583
B.Bonds 1993 /46/ 79/ 0.582
J.Gonzalez 1996 /47/ 82/ 0.573
M.Piazza 1999 /40/ 70/ 0.571
F.Thomas 1996 /40/ 70/ 0.571
B.Bonds 1996 /42/ 76/ 0.553
A.Belle 1996 /48/ 87/ 0.552
Griffey Jr. 1994 /40/ 73/ 0.548
L.Walker 1997 /49/ 90/ 0.544
F.Thomas 1995 /40/ 74/ 0.541
R.Palmeiro 2001 /47/ 90/ 0.522
M.Piazza 1997 /40/ 77/ 0.519
V.Castilla 1998 /46/ 89 0.517
Griffey Jr. 1993 /45/ 91/ 0.495
M.Williams 1994 /43/ 87/ 0.494
C.Jones 1999 /45/ 94/ 0.479
J.Lopez 2003 /43/ 90/ 0.478
R.Sandberg 1990 /40/ 84/ 0.476
R.Palmeiro 1998 /43/ 91/ 0.473
D.Evans 1985 /40/ 85/ 0.471
J.Gonzalez 1993 /46/ 99/ 0.465
B.Bonds 1997 /40/ 87/ 0.460
R.Palmeiro 2002 /43/ 94/ 0.457
F.Thomas 2000 /43/ 94/ 0.457
V.Castilla 1996 /40/ 88/ 0.455
D.Justice 2000 /41/ 91/ 0.451
J.Giambi 2000 /43/ 96/ 0.448
D.Justice 1993 /40/ 90/ 0.444
D.Bichette 1995 /40/ 96/ 0.417
K.Caminiti 1996 /40/ 99/ 0.404

BIP Averages (BallsInPlay)

http://www.drafthelp.com/MLB_BallsInPlay.htm FOR THE FULL STORY CHECK OUT THIS LINK

Balls In Play Average, or BIP, measures what a batters average is in at bats in which they hit the ball.

Let’s take Jim Thome as an example.
Jim Thome is batting .285 this year (372 AB with 106 hits) with 109 K.

372 AB- 109 K= 263 AB
106 HITS/263 AB= .403
Therefore his BIP average is .403.


The 2004 BIP Leaders as of August 8th, 2004
Jim Edmonds .431
Adam Dunn .430
Miguel Cabrera .424
Melvin Mora .420
Lyle Overbay .414
Manny Ramírez .412
Scott Rolen .409
Travis Hafner .406
Iván Rodríguez .406
Jim Thome .403
Jason Varitek .396
Craig Wilson .394
Ichiro Suzuki .392
David Ortiz .389
Jeromy Burnitz .389
J.D. Drew .388
Barry Bonds .386
Carlos Guillén .386
Derrek Lee .382
Erubiel Durazo .382
Phil Nevin .381
Lance Berkman .380
Álex Sánchez .379
VladGuerrero .378
Adrián Béltre .377
Aramis Ramírez .375
Javy López .373
Hideki Matsui .373
Johnny Estrada .371
Michael Young .370
Ken Harvey .370
Todd Helton .369
Jermaine Dye .369
Hank Blalock .368
Bobby Abreu .367
José Guillén .367
Sean Casey .364
Royce Clayton .364
Mark Loretta .362
Álex Rodríguez .361
Casey Blake .360
Chone Figgins .359
Ron Belliard .358
Eric Byrnes .358
Jack Wilson .358
Kevin Millar .355
Milton Bradley .353
Carl Crawford .352
Mark Kotsay .352
Alfonso Soriano .351
Miguel Tejada .349
Matt Lawton .348
Aaron Miles .348
Carlos Lee .348
Paul Konerko .348
Albert Pujols .347
Vinny Castilla .347
Vernon Wells .346
Gary Sheffield .344
Víctor Martínez .344
Lew Ford .343
Jeff Kent .342
Eric Chávez .342
Danny Bautista .341
Rocco Baldelli .340
Johnny Damon .340
S.Hillenbrand .340
Craig Biggio .339
Luis Castillo .338
Omar Vizquel .338
Ryan Freel .338
Mike Lowell .337
Randy Winn .336
Derek Jeter .335
Tino Martínez .335
Michael Barrett .333
Tony Womack .332
Mike Piazza .332
Juan Pierre .332
César Izturis .331
Édgar Rentería .330
Reed Johnson .328
Jason Kendall .328
David Eckstein .327
Paul Lo Duca .326
Rafael Furcal .326
Brian Giles .326
Julio Lugo .323
Sean Burroughs .322
M.Grissom .322
José Vidro .321
Chad Tracy .321
Mike Sweeney .320
Marco Scutaro .319
C.Guzmán .319
Aubrey Huff .317
S. Hatteberg .316
Jimmy Rollins .314
Pierzynski .314
Endy Chávez .313


Here are the ALL TIME BIP leaders
for all seasons where a batter
accumluated 150 K in a season.

JimThome 2001/ .449
JoseHernandez 2002/ .448
SammySosa 2001/ .446
MoVaughan 1997/ .445
SammySosa 2000/ .443
JimEdmonds 2000/ .433
MoVaughan 1996/ .430
MarkMcGwire 1998/ .429
JimThome 1999/ .424
WillieStargell 1971/ .423
Bobby Bonds 1970/ .422
SammySosa 1998/ .419
PrestonWilson 1999/ .414
JorgePosada 2000/ .410
JoseCanseco 1990/ .409
RayLankford 1998/ .408
A.Galarraga 1996/ .405
PeteIncavilia 1987/ .405
CecilFielder 1990/ .405
A.Galarraga 1988/ .404
GregLuzinski 1975/ .402
TroyGlaus 2000/ .400
DickAllen 1965/ .399
SammySosa 1999/ .396
HenryRodriguez 1996/ .395
Rob Deer 1987/ .392
ReggieJackson 1982/ .390
BradWilkerson 2002/ .390
DannyTartabull 1986/ .390
JimThome 2003/ .389
JimThome 2000/ .389
MarkMcGwire 1997/ .388
LarryHisle 1969/ .388
AlfonsoSoriano 2002/ .388
BradWilkerson 2003/ .387
ReggieJackson 1971/ .387
RichieSexson 2000/ .386
Richie Sexson 2001/ .386
MoVaughan 2000/ .386
BoJackson 1989/ .385
PrestonWilson 2000/ .383
PeteIncavilia 1986/ .381
PatBurrell 2002/ .381
DickAllen 1968/ .381
TommieAgee 1970/ .379
JoseHernandez 2001/ .378
JayBuhner 1996/ .378
DerekLee 2002/ .376
RobDeer 1986/ .376
DaveNicholson 1963/ .376
MikeCameron 2001/ .374
BenGrieve 2001/ .373
BobbyBonds 1969/ .370
LarryParrish 1987/ .370
PatBurrell 2001/ .369
JimPresley 1986/ .367
MIkeSchmidt 1975/ .366
RobDeer 1988/ .366
FrankHoward 1967/ .365
Adam Dunn 2002/ .364
ButchHobson 1977/ .364
RichieSexson 2003/ .363
JoseCanseco 1991/ .362
ReggieJackson 1968/ .361
DeanPalmer 1999/ .361
JuanSamuel 1987/ .361
A.Galarraga 1990/ .361
JayBuhner 1997/ .359
JesseBarfield 1990/ .359
DannyTartabull 1993/ .359
JuanSamuel 1984/ .358
RonKittle 1983/ .357
DonnClendenon 1968/ .356
GormanThomas 1979/ .356
A.Galarraga 1989/ .355
JeromyBernitz 1998/ .355
TonyArmas 1984/ .354
DonLock 1963/ .353
MikeCamerson 2002/ .352
NateColbert 1970/ .351
MickeyTettleton 1990/ .349
DeanPalmer 1993/ .348
LeeStevens 2001/ .345
CecilFielder 1991/ .345
SammySosa 1997/ .344
JoseCanseco 1987/ .342
JeromyBernitz 2001/ .342
JoseHernandez 2003/ .342
TroyGlaus 2001/ .342
JimPresley 1987/ .340
JoseCanseco 1986/ .339
RonGant 1997/ .338
GaryAlexander 1978/ .337
SteveBalboni 1985/ .336
DaveKingman 1975/ .332
CorySnyder 1987/ .331
RobDeer 1993/ .330
JesseBarfield 1989/ .329
GormanThomas 1980/ .328
GeorgeScott 1966/ .327
CecilFielder 1992/ .327
JoseCanseco 1998/ .325
DelinoDeshields 1991/ .325
SammySosa 1990/ .325
DeanPalmer 1992/ .320
JuanSamuel 1988/ .320
RobDeer 1989/ .318
JeffBurroughs 1975/ .314
RobDeer 1991/ .293
DaveKingman 1982/ .288

Radio Appearance, AUGUST 5th, 8:30 PM EST

On August 5th, 2004, I appeared on air with Rick Morris of www.Drafthelp.com to discuss many a topic on baseball. The show can be heard at:

You could also listen to my radio discussion on CERA at:
http://sportstalkcleveland.com/archives/index.htm
Scroll down to LIFE’S A PITCH for 8/5/04
(Tune in to the 33 to 59th Minute to hear the discussion)


Here is a "cheat sheet" discussing many of the topics we plan to covered.

CATCHERS ERA
To read the article we will/are discussing link to:
http://www.drafthelp.com/MLB_CatchersERA.htm

BEST NL LEFTY ISNT R.JOHNSON?

It just might be Oliver Perez (OP). The stats as of August 5th.
OP- Age 23
Randy Johson (RJ)- Age 40

W-L/ERA/K
OP- 6-6/3.13/153
RJ- 11-9/2.96/184

WHIP/SWIP/IP
OP- 1.12/0.86/123.2
RJ- 0.91/0.92/164.1

BAA/OPSA (Batting Average Against/OPS Against)
OP- .206/.636
RJ- .197/.564

K/9IP
OP- 11.13
RJ- 10.07

H/9IP
OP- 6.62
RJ- 6.46

RJ is ahead in most categories, surprisingly not in K though, but they are darn close, closer in fact than most of you imagined I bet.

Their stats through roughly their first 350 IP of their careers.

OP- AGE 23/340.1 IP/14W-21L/4.10 ERA
RJ- AGE 26/406.1 IP/24W-24L/4.03 ERA

OP- 388 K/10.26 K PER 9IP
RJ- 349 K//7.73 K PER 9IP

OP- 1.36 WHIP/0.63 SWIP
RJ- 1.40 WHIP/0.31 SWIP

OP- .231 BAA/7.70 H per 9IP
RJ- .230 BAA/7.62 H per 9IP



BEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL- JASON SCMHIDT
(You can view my previously written article at:
http://www.athomeplate.com/jschmidt.shtml)

An update on that story follows. RANKS are for MLB pitching as of August 4th:

Record 13-4 (5th best win% of .765)
2.75 ERA (3rd)
164 K (3rd)
1.03 WHIP (4th)
9.80 K/9IP (4th)
6.03 H/9IP (2nd)
.188 BAA (2nd)
.565 OPSA (2nd)

That is as impressive a record as there is in baseball.

CARLOS BELTRAN'S FAILED HOUSTON TRIP;
THERE's BEEN NO BLASTOFF

As previously predicted
(http://wildpitch.blogspot.com/2004/07/carlos-beltran-and-kauffman-stadium.html), Beltran's move to Houston has not been the offensive boon that many people expected. Here are the numbers, you might want to avert your eyes.

AB/AVG/HR/RBI
KC- 266/.278/15/51
HOU- 131/.244/11/25
***His at bat total means that you can just double his Houston numbers to match his KC totals for comparisons sake (i.e. 25 RBI become 50 or 1 behind his KC total).

R/H/2B
KC- 51/74/19
HOU- 22/32/7

OBP/SLG/OPS
KC- .367/.534/.901
HOU- .327/.565/.892

Hell, even his SB total is down (14 in KC to 6 in Houston). That means, by my count, of the 10 categories that we surveyed Beltran as an Astros is behind his KC pace in EIGHT of them.

Catchers CERA Leaders, 01-03

THE FORMULA

CERA= (ER/IP) X 9

CERA is the Catchers ERA or the ERA of the pitching staff of that team when that catcher is behind the dish.


SOURCES and ISSUES

What follows is a list of CERA leaders for the past three full seasons taken from the Bill James Handbooks.

As noted in Mr. Rosciams' article (see link below), these figures are not necessarily the best available. The reason for this is that CERA is calculated in this series of works by taking the total innings caught by a catcher without recording who was pitching during those innings. In essence what these numbers relate is how an individual catchers ERA compares to the overall team mark regardless of whether or not that catcher caught Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder or Rich Harden and Mark Redman.

We should also mention that CERA should also be normalized meaning that the teams overall ERA should play a part when discussing CERA. For Example Ra. Hernandez catches the wonderful A's pitching staff so of course his CERA will be lower than that of A.J. Pierzynski's totals on the Twins without necessarily meaning that Ra. Hernandez is a better catcher. A more indicative total is that of the DIFFERENCE column which show how each catcher performed in relation to his teams ERA.

In the following leaders lists CERA is listed first, followed by Team ERA in (parenthesis), followed by the difference between the Catchers CERA and his teams mark. A negative score in the difference column is good meaning the catcher improved his teams ERA by that much).


2003 LEADERS
Minimum 100 Games Caught

P.LoDuca-2.73 (3.16), diff: -0.43
Ra.Hernandez-3.48 (3.63),diff: -0.15
B.Santiago-3.53(3.73),diff: -0.20
Olivo-3.80(4.17),diff: -0.37
I.Rodriguez-3.84(4.04),diff: -0.20
D.Miller-3.88(3.83),diff: +0.05
J.Lopez-3.96(4.10),diff: -0.14
M.Lieberthal-4.11(4.04),diff: +0.07
J.Posada-4.13(4.02),diff: +0.09
A.Pierzynski-4.15(4.41),diff: -0.26

REFERENCES

Please also read Chuck Rosciam's review of CERA at:
http://wildpitch.blogspot.com/2004/08/catchers-era-new-defensive-measure.html

Please also refer to Keith Woolner's article
http://baseball-analysis.com/article.php?articleid=432]

Catcher's ERA, a New Defensive Measure?

THE FOLLOWING IS REPRODUCED WITH THE APPROVAL OF ITS AUTHOR. WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK MR. ROSCIAM FOR ALLOWING US TO DO SO.


Catcher's Earned Run Average (CERA)
Meaningless Stat Or An Effective Measure?
by Chuck Rosciam, SABR Member

A discussion of the value and shortfalls of the statistic called Catcher's Earned Run Average (CERA).

INTRODUCTION

Most experts (meaning managers, coaches, pitchers and catchers) believe that the aspect of the catcher's job that has the most impact is his game-calling, that is, his ability to work with pitchers and help them throw more effectively. The standard and most acceptable measure for a pitcher is the Earned Run Average (ERA). Baseball is a game that has statistics for virtually everything, but there seems to be precious little time and energy devoted to measuring how well catchers perform at calling the game. Rather, we see catchers’ defense measured by how many base stealers they throw out or how many passed balls or errors are charged against the backstop. A recent attempt at measuring a catcher's defensive skills is the CERA, which basically is the Earned Run Average of the battery (catcher and the pitchers on a team) for each specific catcher as compared to all other catchers and their batterymates.

The most comprehensive published study on the subject is Craig Wright's "Catcher's ERA" in his book The Diamond Appraised. Craig defined a process whereby catchers on the same team can be compared by how well a common set of pitchers perform with each catcher. That is, Catcher A's and Catcher B's CERA for Pitcher 1 are compared for the differences. The resultant CERA can be used to draw a conclusion as to the intrateam value among catchers.

PROBLEMS WITH CERA

However, there is a problem with this straight forward approach, as noted by Keith Woolner in his study published in Baseball Prospectus. The problem is sample size. When attempting to use "matched pitchers" for a team's catchers, there are wide fluctuations in the number of innings especially for the backup catchers. These variations between catchers' innings and hence their CERA may be "natural variation" attributed to simple chance or they might be the result of true game-calling ability.

Furthermore, there is the situation of the alternate (backup) catcher being used as a late inning substitute and paired with mop-up bullpen hurlers, generally in a losing cause. The starting catcher would have very few innings with these bullpen guys (usually with a high ERA) while the backup catcher would have few innings with the #1 and #2 starting pitchers (who usually have lower ERA's). Then there is the phenomena of Grag Maddux. When he pitched for Atlanta he preferred to throw to backup catcher Eddie Perez instead of the number one guy, Javy Lopez. Because of Maddux's preference and low ERA, this would preclude any matched pairings or if pairings were ignored the scales would tip in Perez's favor.

The next concern with CERA (and by no means the last) is the way that CERA is now being captured and presented in various publications which form the core of the CERA statistical library. The Bill James Handbook formerly published by STATS, Inc. and now ACTA, do not use matched pairings, but rather capture all of a catcher's innings and earned runs regardless of the pitchers involved. It is a raw total report that in and of itself is very misleading.

In Table 1. below you have two equal catchers (A and B) who have the very same CERA for each and every pitcher (1, 2, and 3) they caught. The only difference between the catchers is in the number of innings caught for each pitcher although their cumulative total innings are identical. "CATCHER A" only caught 50 innings with "PITCHER 2" (ERA of 4.50) while "CATCHER B" caught 110 innings and had the identical CERA. "CATCHER B" is penalized (in his cumulative CERA of 3.86) for doing the same job as "CATCHER A" only because of the way the CERA raw total statistic is formulated.

***TO SEE THE TABLES AND READ THE REST OF THE ARTCLE LINK TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:
http://www.baseballcatchers.com/cera1.htm