So the regular season is over. I love statistics, so I was perusing the final season stats for MLB, as I often do. A few things popped out at me, so I thought I would post about them. These are only things that interest me, not anything that has wide appeal, so don't get excited. But I've broken it down into 4 sections, 2 about specific statistics, and 2 about specific players. Hope there is something interesting in there for you!
Batting average
After a slight rebound in 2023 to a MLB wide batting average of .248, 2024 saw a decline to .243, tied for the worst league wide average since the infamous Year of the Pitcher in 1968. This is a bummer for a guy like me who likes to see the ball in play!
Only 7 players in MLB had a batting average of .300 or higher in 2024. That's the fewest in any year for at least the last 20 years (that's as far as I had patience to look).
The highest number of players at .300 or higher in the last 20 years was in 2009, with 42 players. Wow.
Of the 7 that made it this year (2024), all but one also had 30 home runs or more. In that 2009 season, of the 42 above .300, only 6 of them had 30 bombs. Kind of interesting.
Elly De La Cruz
Elly is one of the most fascinating young players in the bigs. He's HUGE, especially for a SS. He's FAST too. Understandably, a lot of collectors are interested in him. I too am intrigued by him, but at this point, I am more intrigued by his flaws. Of course, if he can shore up the flaws, he could be one of the all time greats.
First, the good. Elly led the majors in Stolen Bases with 67. I think we are all aware of that, as for a while, he was on quite a pace. Interestingly, Elly also led the majors in another stat, Errors, with 29. That seemed like an unusual combo, so I did a super quick scan, and found another player who led the league in both SB and E. The one I found was Luis Aparicio in his rookie year of 1956. I imagine there are others... if anyone knows of any others, leave them in the chat.
But Elly didn't stop there. He also led the majors in a third stat, Strikeouts with 218! I haven't found anyone else who had that triple crown, SB, E and K for a season! Has it happened?
So Elly struck out the most total times, but was only the 24th worst from a Strikeouts per Plate Appearances perspective. He struck out once every 3.15 Plate Appearances. The worst in the bigs was Elly's teammate Will Benson who struck out once every 2.19 Plate Appearances, or 154 Ks in 383 PA. So it could be worse!
Shohei Ohtani
First off, I think Ohtani's offensive year was jaw-dropping. Most stats will show Aaron Judge with the better offensive year, and I can't really disagree. However, Shohei shouldn't be overshadowed in any way by Judge. So let's talk about the aspect of Ohtani's game that Judge can't compete in, stolen bases. Ohtani had an incredible jump in all aspects of his stolen base game this year. **quick disclaimer - I am one of those pedantic people who think that current stolen base numbers aren't as impressive as 'the old days'. It's flat out easier now with the rule changes!!** OK, back to the awesome.... First off Shohei swiped 59 bags this year, 33 more than any other season in his career. That's just a massive jump for a 30 year old player! He also was successful at a crazy clip. He was only caught 4 times, for a stealing percentage of 93.6%. In his career before this season he was only at a 72.2% success rate. Another huge jump!
Strikeouts and Walks
OK, first a quick reminder: MLB Strikeouts are way, way way up and seem to go up even higher every year. Again, I find myself in the old fuddy duddy camp, where we dream of a past where striking out 100 times meant you weren't much of a hitter. So here's some interesting strikeout stuff from 2024.
(These stats include players with at least 20 walks)
Only 4 players in MLB had more walks than strikeouts:
Juan Soto - 129 walks to 119 strikeouts, 1.08 BB/K
Mookie Betts - 61 walks to 57 strikeouts, 1.07 BB/K
Steven Kwan - 53 walks to 51 strikeouts, 1.04 BB/K
Kyle Tucker - 56 walks to 53 strikeouts, 1.04 BB/K
Every other player in MLB had more strikeouts than walks including the player who is indisputably the best at not striking out....
Luis Arraez! He only struck out 29 times in 661 Plate Appearances. That's once every 22.79 Plate Appearances. He beat the next best player, Steven Kwan by more than double. Kwan struck out once every 10.45 Plate Appearances. Arraez doesn't walk much either, only 24 times on the season!
So that's my random stat musings for 2024. If you made it this far, you must be a stathead too!
Thanks for the research. That was pretty cool. Luis Arraez doesn't get as much respect in the hobby as he should. I don't think Tony Gwynn does either and without actually comparing stats they seem similar. I would guess that Arraez hit more homers, but neither one struck out much at all.
ReplyDeleteGreat recap! Shohei is a beast and will probably kill it in October. Meanwhile, Arraez' ability to make contact no matter what is something that should be envied by ever batter in the league. Unfortunately, in this day and age everybody wants to hit bombs at the expense of batting average. I guess you could say it's more exciting, but I like the good old' small ball approach. Batting averages would go up too, and maybe then we'd see 42 guys batting over .300 again.
ReplyDeleteIn 1984, Juan Samuel led the NL in strike-outs (to be fair, he also led the league in ABs) and was 2nd in Steals and Errors. He would later be moved from 2B to CF.
ReplyDeleteAs a Mike Schmidt fan, I winced at your comment about guys who strike out 100 times in a season.
Interesting read though.
I would venture to guess Jeter has led the league in Errors at one point, but probably didn’t get the SB crown, and I always remember his striking out a good deal.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stats you’ve found. I figured the .300 hitters were not abundant just based on last years numbers, but not that low. Also figured Arraez walked more than he did.