Baserunning Metrics So Far

I've been asked by a number of people what the baserunning numbers look like for 2007. I recently ran the numbers (thanks to Bill Burke at BP) using the same methodology as last year (and using the same park factors and run expectancies) and so look for the leaders and trailers in all four metrics (EqHAR, EqGAR, EqAAR, and EqSBR) later this week on Baseball Prospectus.

Before those come out I will let the cat out of the bag a little and reveal that on an individual basis Grady Sizemore leads the majors with 6.92 runs on the strength of 2.48 runs gained on advancing on hits (EqHAR) and 2.24 runs on stolen bases. Chone Figgins comes in a close second at 6.30 runs (he leads in EqHAR at 3.02) after leading the league in 2006 at 9.19 runs and 2005 at 8.29 runs and solidifies his hold on the status of best overall baserunner in the game at the present time. On the flip side Carlos Delgado is dead last at -4.92 runs and Miguel Cabrera is second from the bottom at -4.67. Those two have a fairly commanding "lead" over the rest of the pack.

From a team perspective the Padres are first at 8.18 followed by the Rangers at 6.90 while the Astros (-13.64) and Mets (-9.42) are way out in front of other teams. At the level of leagues, the AL holds the overall advantage at +11 runs while the NL is at -19 despite having two additional teams. Interestingly, when EqSBR is excluded the AL holds the advantage at +20 versus +13 which is a departure from last year when the NL held a 27 run advantage.

Finally, the BP piece will not include the following table that shows how many times each team has made outs on the bases (the lead runner getting thrown out) in the various situations where OA H are out advancing on hits, OA A are out advancing on fly outs, and OA G are out advancing on ground outs.

Team        OA H    OA A    OA G      OA
NYA            6       6       5      17
MIN            6       4       6      16
NYN            9       3       2      14
PIT            2       4       8      14
CLE            4       7       2      13
COL            7       3       3      13
HOU            6       3       4      13
MIL            4       4       5      13
SEA            3       4       6      13
BOS            4       4       4      12
CIN            4       4       4      12
KCA            2       6       4      12
OAK            3       5       4      12
PHI            7       3       2      12
FLO            2       6       3      11
SLN            5       5       1      11
TEX            3       7       1      11
CHA            4       4       2      10
DET            4       2       4      10
TOR            1       7       2      10
ANA            5       3       1       9
ARI            5       1       3       9
CHN            2       4       3       9
TBA            3       3       2       8
BAL            3       2       2       7
ATL            3       2       1       6
SFN            4       1       1       6
LAN            3       0       2       5
SDN            2       1       2       5
WAS            1       1       3       5