Eagle Eye Hitters

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Let's a say (walks-IBB)/strikeouts represents the Eagle Eye Ratio. That is, how often does a guy get on base every for every time he goes down swinging? You could even use linear weights to assign values.

Because of the varying league K and BB rates, it's important to factor in the guy's league (here's where linear weights would come in). I don't have those, so I'm going to adjust. To keep it simple, let's determine the league Eagle Eye Ratio and subtract it from a player's to show how much better/worse the player was than the league at walking and not getting striking out.

Ted Williams walked a lot in 1947 and rarely struck out. His 1947 EER is 3.68. For every 3.68 walks, Williams struck out just once. The league EER (including pitchers; I don't know how to filter them out) was 1.02. Williams is at +2.66. In English, I suppose you would say he had +2.66 more walks than the league average for each time he struck out.

Are there any interesting cases out there? Adam Dunn led the league in strikeouts and walks this season. His EER was 0.459, just 0.69 more than the league EER of 0.390.

Eddie Yost's, the "Walking Man," EER in 1950 was 2.24, making him 1.05 above the league.

Joe Sewell struck out FOUR times in 1925. His 16.00 EER was 14.7 above the 1.30 league.

Any other interesting cases?

[ipitch]

Joe Sewell struck out FOUR times in 1925. His 16.00 EER was 14.7 above the 1.30 league.

His EER was even further above average in 1932 and 1933, his last two years.

[leewileyfan]

There are many interesting eagle eye hitter seasons. Here are a few. If I might, I'd suggest the EER drop the penalty for K's, just drop the IBB so these guys are not being compared to the Wiliams, Ruth, Mantle crowd.

I suggest this because, although these guys were not big whiffers [but Eddie Joost did fan 100+ times once, in the season I selected for him], even a K makes the opposing pitcher work. You get an eagle eye hitter who goes 1 for 4 [a single] + 1 walk and maybe with a strikeout, how many pitches he did 5 PA demand? [20? 22? 25?] That's a lot of work.

If EER took walks as if they were singles [even infield hits, all], then added them to hits [with no total bases considered] and divided the sum by PA, we might get an EEBV [eagle-eye batting value].

Eddie Joost: 1947; BA .206, H 111 + BB 114 = 225/682 PA = .330 [Guy with a .206 BA is 11th in MVP voting with 35 votes?

Eddie Yost: 1956; BA .231, H 119 + 151 BB = 270/683 PA = .395

Roy Cullenbine: age 33, his last season; BA .224, H 104 + 137 BB = 241/607 PA = .397. Cullenbine, a switch hitter and solid defender, when he got a shot at regular play, invariably batted in the .270 - .285 range with a fine OB%.

Eddie Lake: a pre-War IF who could never really break in unti WW II, was a solid IF and always better getting on-base than most. 1947 BA .211, H 120 + BB 127 = 247/732 PA = .337.

Max Bishop 1928; BA .232; H 128 + 110 BB =238/617/PA = .386 for the World Champion A's.

In each case, I deliberately selected a season with an unusually LOW BA for each player. These guys were not chronic .214 hitters.