Red Sox individual statistics to love and hate from 2018

The Boston Red Sox had some interesting individual statistics that surfaced in 2018 and some were a surprise and others were not. I have selected a few to examine.

In a previous article, I delved into some team statistics from 2018. Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball and the migration continues from traditional to the extensive use of metrics and analytics. Individually there is surprises and some not so surprising with the Red Sox. An excellent source is Fangraphs and the Baseball Savant. The following is based on both leagues.

Just what is OOA? To simplfy it, OOA is a range based metric of fielding skill for outfielders that incorporates a degree of difficulty. We all know the Red Sox outfields ability and it shows in OOA or does it? Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. are tied with 12, but Andrew Benintendi is -1. Lorenzo Cain is tops in MLB with 22. Nick Castellanos had a -24 and Bryce Harper a -13.

Sprint Speed is just how many feet a player can run per second. Naturally, you expect those who can motor to be on the top of the list and that means Byron Buxton at 30.5. Albert Pujols is at the very bottom with just 22.2 and it takes a sloth-like 5.01 seconds for Albert to get from home to first.

No surprise that Sandy Leon bottoms out the Red Sox players with 23.9 and 4.71 to first. Surprises? Betts’ ranking at 151 on the list with a 28.1, but then Aaron Judge (28.0) leaving Xander Bogaerts (27.8), Bradley (27.8) and Benintendi (27.8) in the dust.

Kenley Jansen is a one trick pony in MLB with a fastball. Jansen throws his heater 94.2% (min. 50 IP) of the time. With Craig Kimbrel (64.6) gone the new Red Sox leader is Ryan Brasier (62.6). Brasier (96.9v) is now just behind Nathan Eovaldi (97.5v) as the resident speed demons.

I know what to expect from my spouse when I make a rare mistake, but in baseball, xwOBA is a statistic that tells the story of a season based on quality and amount of contact and not outcomes for hitters. Another stat to make your head spin and your brain just to melt. The Red Sox had one notable surprise (250 At-Bats).

Steve Pearce at .398 was fifth in MLB. To the surprise of no one, the top three were Mike Trout (.430), Betts (.430), and J.D. Martinez (.417). When you hit just .171 you would expect it would show right down the statistical line and Leon (.232) is dead last. Our other catching notable – Christian Vazquez (.283) – did make a reasonable effort to underperform Leon. Better success in 2019.

If you are fascinated with watching a top spin then you can watch a baseball spin and some players (min. 500 pitches) can really spin a ball. Best at a 4-Seamer? David Robertson can spin that sphere at a 2661 rate, but Peter Moylan at just 2052. Chris Sale at 2354 leads the Red Sox contingent with Brasier (2345) just behind. The other pitches I will ignore.

Exit Velocity has nothing to do with how quickly you leave the house when your sister-in-law is planning a visit, but how quickly the ball leaves the bat. Judge (94.7 MPH) leads all and is quickly followed by several notable sluggers. Martinez is seventh (93 MPH) and MVP Betts is 18th (92.2) with Bradley just behind at 91.8. And, yes, Leon is last on the Red Sox at 83.6.

ISO or Isolated Power is a more common statistic and the nutshell definition is ISO defines a batter’s ability to hit for extra bases. Is this a new sabermetric? The basic ISO was developed by legendary Branch Rickey in 1954. Rickey was either well ahead of his time or the others well behind.