Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Billy Butler: Base Clogger?

Robert Ford seems to ruffle the feathers of sabermetrically inclined Royals fans from time to time (i.e. calling David DeJesus a fourth outfielder on a good team, saying Kevin Appier was not an ace). In the latest installment, he has called Billy Butler a "base-clogger." I'm not exactly sure what people mean when they say that. It wouldn't be controversial to merely call Butler slow, but there's something else implied in the term "base-clogger," something that indirectly disparages his on-base skills. But perhaps it just means the player doesn't come around to score as often as he should relative to how often he's on base. 

Anyway, this prompted me to look into the rates Royals players have scored historically. I looked at the 113 players that have reached base 200+ times not including home runs for the Royals, the number of runs they scored minus home runs, and came up with a run scoring efficiency number. Speed and intelligent base-running are of course big parts of making your way around the base-paths, but it is also important to remember the huge factor of teammates bringing you in, making these numbers not just an individual stat. Butler has not had the luxury of great hitters helping him come home. That combined with his lack of speed does result in a poor rate of scoring: he comes in at 100th on the list of 113 Royals, having scored 24% of the time he reaches base by way of a non-homer. The average for the 113 guys on the list is 30%. So in the strictest sense that he gets stranded more than you would like, maybe he is a "base-clogger." But that is such a loaded term. Since the way to score runs is to not make outs/reach base, anytime you "clog" a base, you have done something good. And even if he's not efficient at coming home on a rate basis, he clogs bases so often that he's already scored the 18th most runs in Royals history. So, sure, call the guy slow all you want. But calling him, or really anybody, a base-clogger pejoratively just doesn't make much sense.

(By the way, I don't mean to pick on Ford. I enjoy his work on the radio and on his blog, and I appreciate that he focuses on bringing the perspective of baseball insiders, something I know little about.)

Here are some of the stats on Royals run-scoring efficiency:

Player Efficiency   TOB- HR     R-HR
1. Gary Thurman 0.431 218 94
2. Willie Wilson 0.419 2431020
3. Tom Goodwin 0.391 501 196
4. Lonnie Smith 0.389 427 166
5. Tony Pena 0.386 207 80
6. Carlos Febles 0.381 606 231
7. Vince Coleman 0.381 247 94
8. Johnny Damon 0.377 1164 439
9. Neifi Perez 0.369 214 79
10. Bill Pecota 0.369 404 149
11. Carlos Beltran 0.367 1153 423
12. Melky Cabrera 0.367 229 84
13. Grudzielanek 0.363 482 175
14. Rey Sanchez 0.363 488 177
15. Freddie Patek 0.361 1506 543


27. Chris Getz0.33524582


30. David DeJesus 0.332 1327 440
31. Amos Otis 0.331 2658 881
49. Frank White 0.310 2423 752
51. George Brett 0.310 4086 1266
59. Alex Gordon 0.302 810 245
71. Jeff Francoeur 0.287 251 72

74. Y. Betancourt 0.284 243 69

84. Eric Hosmer 0.275 211 58
99. Lou Piniella 0.240 889 213
100. Billy Butler 0.239 1034 247
101. Pat Tabler 0.238 340 81
102. McReynolds 0.237 274 65
103. Matt Stairs 0.234 406 95
104. Mike Fiore 0.233 202 47
105. Tony Solaita 0.225 209 47
106. Ken Harvey 0.223 336 75
107. Jamie Quirk 0.221 435 96
108. Jim Sundberg 0.220 259 57
109. Steve Balboni 0.207 546 113
110. Bob Boone 0.206 209 43
111. Gail Hopkins 0.205 205 42
112. Willie Aikens 0.205 669 137
113. B. Martinez 0.199 286 57

2 comments:

  1. As a little kid, I really believed that Gary Thurman would be a star--a speedy 1st round pick and all. I just looked up his stats. He maxed out at 216 PA's in 1992 and Total Zone says he was even 6 runs below average in the field. He'll always have those 2 solo HR's in 1991, though. Run on, Gary. Run on.

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  2. Butler is the best hitter on the Royals roster right now. period. Look at increased homers this year. He is developing. Perspective, people.

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