RedlegStats.com
Black and White and Reds All Over
OFFENSE PITCHING DEFENSE STATS BLOG

ABSOLUTE AVERAGE

"ABSO-lutely better than OPS"

Something is missing from the OPS equation, and that something is batting average. Absolute average, or ABSO (Average of Batting, Slugging, and On-base), which I first formulated here, is a more accurate measure of how much a player's batting contributes to run-scoring. Using the Lahman database, I determined an OPS Champion, an Absolute Champion, and a Runs Created per Game* (RC/G) Champion for each year, each based on a minimum of 3.1 plate appearances per team game. Out of 214 league-years (two leagues for 107 years, 1901-2007) OPS and ABSO agreed on the league champion 183 times. Of the 31 league-years in which they disagreed, which are shown in the table below, RC/G agreed with ABSO 26 times, and with OPS only 4 times.** The complete list of ABSO champs is here.

Year League OPS champ ABSO champ Most
RC/G
Player OPS RC/G Player ABSO RC/G
1901 N.L. Ed Delahanty .955 9.42 Jesse Burkett .442 9.70 ABSO
1913 A.L. Joe Jackson 1.011 10.92 Ty Cobb .464 11.07 ABSO
1914 N.L. Gavvy Cravath .901 7.72 Sherry Magee .401 7.63 OPS
1916 N.L. Cy Williams .831 6.40 Hal Chase .387 6.82 ABSO
1918 A.L. Babe Ruth .966 8.80 Ty Cobb .446 9.91 ABSO
1922 A.L. Babe Ruth 1.106 12.47 George Sisler .494 12.91 ABSO
1925 A.L. Ty Cobb 1.066 12.15 Tris Speaker .482 12.25 ABSO
1926 N.L. Hack Wilson .944 8.69 Paul Waner .425 8.85 ABSO
1931 N.L. Chuck Klein .982 9.45 Chick Hafey .441 9.54 ABSO
1942 N.L. Mel Ott .912 7.90 Enos Slaughter .408 8.05 ABSO
1949 N.L. Ralph Kiner 1.089 11.10 Stan Musial .467 11.16 ABSO
1951 N.L. Ralph Kiner 1.079 11.08 Stan Musial .473 11.54 ABSO
1953 N.L. Duke Snider 1.046 10.68 Stan Musial .461 10.84 ABSO
1960 A.L. Mickey Mantle .957 8.25 Roger Maris .412 8.07 OPS
1963 A.L. Bob Allison .911 7.42 Carl Yastrzemski .405 7.90 ABSO
1967 N.L. Dick Allen .970 8.91 Roberto Clemente .437 9.28 ABSO
1970 N.L. Willie McCovey 1.056 10.27 Rico Carty .468 11.23 ABSO
1973 A.L. Reggie Jackson .914 7.71 Rod Carew .410 7.98 ABSO
1974 A.L. Dick Allen .938 8.11 Rod Carew .414 8.16 ABSO
1979 N.L. Dave Kingman .956 7.91 Keith Hernandez .425 8.74 ABSO
1982 N.L. Mike Schmidt .949 8.19 Al Oliver .412 8.10 OPS
1983 A.L. George Brett .947 8.44 Wade Boggs .430 9.05 ABSO
1984 A.L. Dwight Evans .920 7.86 Don Mattingly .420 8.34 ABSO
1984 N.L. Mike Schmidt .919 7.60 Dale Murphy .403 7.72 ABSO
1988 N.L. Darryl Strawberry .911 7.30 Andres Gallaraga .398 7.35 ABSO
1989 A.L. Fred McGriff .924 7.69 Alvin Davis .408 8.11 ABSO
1995 N.L. Barry Bonds 1.009 9.48 Dante Bichette .442 9.18 OPS
2002 A.L. Jim Thome 1.122 11.61 Manny Ramirez .482 12.04 ABSO
2003 A.L. Carlos Delgado 1.019 9.68 Manny Ramirez .446 9.97 ABSO
2004 A.L. Manny Ramirez 1.009 9.42 Vladimir Guerrero .442 9.45 ABSO
2007 A.L. Alex Rodriguez 1.067 10.62 David Ortiz .466 11.13 ABSO

* Runs Created is a Bill James stat that has a large number of different formulations depending on what stats you have available. I used a very basic version of the formula, using all and only the stats that are used to calculate batting, slugging, and on-base averages. The formula is ((H + BB + HBP) * (TB)) / (AB + BB + HBP + SF). Runs Created is a cumulative stat, so in order to convert it to a rate of production, it is customary to calculate RC/G using a certain number of "outs" to represent a game. I used (AB - H + SF) for "outs", and 27 as the number of "outs" per game.

** There was one league-year, 2004 AL, in which RC/G liked Melvin Mora better than either Manny Ramirez, the OPS champ, or Vladimir Guerrero, the ABSO champ. As shown in the table, however, RC/G did prefer Vlad to Manny. There were also two league-years in which OPS and ABSO agreed on a champion, but RC/G chose someone else. In 1934 NL, OPS and ABSO both picked Ripper Collins, but RC/G liked both Mel Ott and Paul Waner better. In 1977 NL, OPS and ABSO agreed on George Foster as champion, but RC/G chose Reggie Smith. Go figure.