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Stats Geek: Best Pirates at driving in runners are . . .

By Brian O'Neill 8 years ago


Aramis Ramirez: “I think I’m doing what they brought me here for, and that’s driving in runs.’’
(Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

Nobody in baseball drives home a higher percentage of baserunners than Andrew McCutchen, which is not all that surprising.

When a guy hits .390 with runners in scoring position, .405 with runners in scoring position and two outs, .337 with runners on base, and throws in eight sacrifice flies, he’s going to drive home plenty of teammates. McCutchen has brought home 65 of the 311 runners who have been on base when he’s batted, a percentage of 20.9 that tops MLB.

But you’d never guess which four of his teammates are next best at driving in runners.

Here’s the list from Baseball Prospectus, with the categories below being plate appearances; plate appearances with runners on base; total runners on base; others batted in; and the percentage of others batted in. Stats are through Saturday’s games.

Player PA PA/ROB ROB OBI OBI%
Andrew McCutchen 542 230 311 65 20.9
Aramis Ramirez 119 67 91 18 19.8
Pedro Alvarez 407 181 265 47 17
Corey Hart 57 30 43 6 16.2
Francisco Liriano 54 24 37 6 16.2

• After his first-inning, three-run homer Saturday night, Ramirez said, “I think I’m doing what they brought me here for, and that’s driving in runs.’’

Indeed. He was immediately slotted cleanup for that reason. The Pirates have given Ramirez plenty of opportunities, putting at least one duck on the pond in more than half his plate appearances, and Ramirez has delivered the goods.

• Alvarez has driven in his runners the hard way. All but three of his 21 home runs have been solo shots, those three being two-run homers. Yet Alvarez is the top Pirate in this group at scoring runners from third base, 26 of 52. That’s 50%, kids, and in baseball, half is very good.

• The much maligned Hart, who figures to return this month, saw an unusual number of baserunners, largely because 24 of his 57 plate appearances were as a pinch hitter. He was good in that role, hitting .318/.333/.455/.788 with a home run and 7 RBI, so that accounted six of his seven OBI.

• Liriano is hitting only .115 but has managed to drive home six of the 37 batters he’s found on base, and three of the 18 he’s found on first base. That 16.7% from first base is the highest percentage on the team. Somebody should call Ripley.

The next best Pirates in Others Batted In Percentage, with 14.7% being the middling number among major league regulars, are just below that: Jung Ho Kang (14.3) Starling Marte (14.2), Neil Walker (14.1), Gregory Polanco (13.7), Chris Stewart (13.5), and Travis Ishikawa (13.5). We’re looking only at players with at least 50 plate appearances.

That brings us to the bottom-feeders. These have been the five Pirates least likely to drive in a runner.

Player PA PA/ROB ROB OBI OBI%
Francisco Cervelli 396 167 242 31 12.8
Josh Harrison 347 123 172 19 11
Jordy Mercer 314 145 206 18 8.7
Sean Rodriguez 207 95 132 6 4.5
Gerrit Cole 56 28 37 0 0

The first two names surprise me a little, the next two don’t. Rodriguez has knocked only one of the 41 runners he’s found on second base.

As for Cole, 21 of his 37 runners were on first base, so he’d often be asked to bunt. If Cole continues to pitch the way he has, Pirates fans shouldn’t care much if he ever drives a runner home anyway.

Some of this is small-sample-size theater. Harrison was second among Pirates regulars to Russell Martin last season in OBI (16.9 to 18.1). Nothing about what’s happened so far this season is necessarily predictive of what comes next. But if you’ve ever found yourself saying, ”Boy, we need a hit here,’’ these charts should give you a pretty good idea of the guys who have and haven’t been answering your prayers.