One of the more irritating arguments, to me, in favor of Ryan Howard over Albert Pujols for NL MVP is that Howard drove in more runs. Even aside from the fact that RBI depends on your teammates, the obvious problem with counting only total runs on the board is that while Howard drove in 12 more runs, Pujols scored 15 more – so in total, Pujols changed the numbers on the board directly more often than Howard, even in fewer games.
Just to help out in that debate, I thought I would run a chart (with much help from Pinto’s database) showing who actually put the most runs on the board in 2006. It’s not, as I said, the best measurement of offense, but it is an actual, real-world number and thus something of a reality check on these debates.
There are two ways to measure Runs and RBI together. One is the “Runs Produced” measure that seeks to ask how many runs a player contributed to – that’s (Runs + RBI – HR). Homers are subtracted out because a player would otherwise be double counted for driving in and scoring the same run.
Of course, driving in and scoring the same run is twice as valuable, since it means the hitter needed no further assistance, so I prefer a second measure – I’ll call it “Total Runs” here but I’m sure someone else has called it something else before and I just can’t remember what. This is a figure that gives a player half credit for driving the run in and half for scoring: (R+RBI)/2. Obviously, that means home run hitters are implicitly given their due for one full run, so it won’t cheat guys like Howard and David Ortiz who do a lot of their work with the longball.
The chart below ranks all players with 400 or more plate appearances by their Total Runs, and also adds a second measure: Total Runs per 27 outs, with outs calculated by ((AB-H)+SF+CS+DP). Again, this isn’t the most precise computation, but neither is it complicated theoretical metric; it’s just dividing runs by outs, and multplying by 27 for ease of comprehension.
So, who actually put the most runs on the board?
| Player | Runs | RBI | TR | TR/O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Pujols | 119 | 137 | 128.0 | 9.02 |
| Ryan Howard | 104 | 149 | 126.5 | 8.29 |
| David Ortiz | 115 | 137 | 126.0 | 8.20 |
| Carlos Beltran | 127 | 116 | 121.5 | 8.50 |
| Garrett Atkins | 117 | 120 | 118.5 | 7.36 |
| Andruw Jones | 107 | 129 | 118.0 | 7.24 |
| Alex Rodriguez | 113 | 121 | 117.0 | 7.25 |
| Matt Holliday | 119 | 114 | 116.5 | 7.21 |
| Chase Utley | 131 | 102 | 116.5 | 6.66 |
| Lance Berkman | 95 | 136 | 115.5 | 8.04 |
| Justin Morneau | 97 | 130 | 113.5 | 7.19 |
| Miguel Cabrera | 112 | 114 | 113.0 | 7.46 |
| Raul Ibanez | 103 | 123 | 113.0 | 6.51 |
| Jermaine Dye | 103 | 120 | 111.5 | 7.64 |
| Carlos Lee | 102 | 116 | 109.0 | 6.24 |
| Travis Hafner | 100 | 117 | 108.5 | 8.99 |
| Jim Thome | 108 | 109 | 108.5 | 8.14 |
| Derek Jeter | 118 | 97 | 107.5 | 6.73 |
| Alfonso Soriano | 119 | 95 | 107.0 | 5.88 |
| David Wright | 96 | 116 | 106.0 | 6.67 |
| Aramis Ramirez | 93 | 119 | 106.0 | 6.45 |
| Mike Cuddyer | 102 | 109 | 105.5 | 6.85 |
| Paul Konerko | 97 | 113 | 105.0 | 6.70 |
| Jason Bay | 101 | 109 | 105.0 | 6.55 |
| Grady Sizemore | 134 | 76 | 105.0 | 5.94 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 127 | 83 | 105.0 | 5.44 |
| Troy Glaus | 105 | 104 | 104.5 | 6.47 |
| Mark Teixeira | 99 | 110 | 104.5 | 5.95 |
| Vladimir Guerrero | 92 | 116 | 104.0 | 6.50 |
| Jason Giambi | 92 | 113 | 102.5 | 7.91 |
| Bobby Abreu | 98 | 107 | 102.5 | 6.70 |
| Carlos Delgado | 89 | 114 | 101.5 | 6.73 |
| Jose Reyes | 122 | 81 | 101.5 | 5.76 |
| Nick Swisher | 106 | 95 | 100.5 | 6.22 |
| Miguel Tejada | 99 | 100 | 99.5 | 5.72 |
| Vernon Wells | 91 | 106 | 98.5 | 5.88 |
| Michael Young | 93 | 103 | 98.0 | 5.17 |
| Johnny Damon | 115 | 80 | 97.5 | 5.94 |
| Daniel Uggla | 105 | 90 | 97.5 | 5.75 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | 84 | 110 | 97.0 | 5.63 |
| Frank Thomas | 77 | 114 | 95.5 | 7.18 |
| Adam Dunn | 99 | 92 | 95.5 | 5.85 |
| Scott Rolen | 94 | 95 | 94.5 | 6.56 |
| Bill Hall | 101 | 85 | 93.0 | 6.02 |
| Magglio Ordonez | 82 | 104 | 93.0 | 5.75 |
| Jeff Francoeur | 83 | 103 | 93.0 | 4.95 |
| Carlos Guillen | 100 | 85 | 92.5 | 6.28 |
| J.D. Drew | 84 | 100 | 92.0 | 6.77 |
| Torii Hunter | 86 | 98 | 92.0 | 5.76 |
| Richie Sexson | 75 | 107 | 91.0 | 5.38 |
| Manny Ramirez | 79 | 102 | 90.5 | 7.47 |
| Craig Monroe | 89 | 92 | 90.5 | 5.75 |
| Gary Matthews Jr. | 102 | 79 | 90.5 | 5.44 |
| Adam LaRoche | 89 | 90 | 89.5 | 6.53 |
| Melvin Mora | 96 | 83 | 89.5 | 5.14 |
| Hanley Ramirez | 119 | 59 | 89.0 | 5.09 |
| Nick Johnson | 100 | 77 | 88.5 | 6.41 |
| Adrian Beltre | 88 | 89 | 88.5 | 5.01 |
| Rafael Furcal | 113 | 63 | 88.0 | 4.94 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 82 | 93 | 87.5 | 6.83 |
| Pat Burrell | 80 | 95 | 87.5 | 6.60 |
| Todd Helton | 94 | 81 | 87.5 | 5.92 |
| Victor Martinez | 82 | 93 | 87.5 | 5.57 |
| Lyle Overbay | 82 | 92 | 87.0 | 5.54 |
| Chipper Jones | 87 | 86 | 86.5 | 7.92 |
| Pedro Feliz | 75 | 98 | 86.5 | 4.86 |
| Ray Durham | 79 | 93 | 86.0 | 6.23 |
| Austin Kearns | 86 | 86 | 86.0 | 5.50 |
| Kevin Youkilis | 100 | 72 | 86.0 | 5.34 |
| Mike Cameron | 88 | 83 | 85.5 | 5.42 |
| Chad Tracy | 91 | 80 | 85.5 | 5.18 |
| Joe Mauer | 86 | 84 | 85.0 | 6.14 |
| Freddy Sanchez | 85 | 85 | 85.0 | 5.67 |
| Joe Crede | 76 | 94 | 85.0 | 5.50 |
| Edgar Renteria | 100 | 70 | 85.0 | 5.12 |
| Brian Giles | 87 | 83 | 85.0 | 4.87 |
| Orlando Cabrera | 95 | 72 | 83.5 | 4.88 |
| Brandon Inge | 83 | 83 | 83.0 | 5.26 |
| Carl Crawford | 89 | 77 | 83.0 | 5.14 |
| Luis Gonzalez | 93 | 73 | 83.0 | 5.00 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 83 | 82 | 82.5 | 5.22 |
| Hank Blalock | 76 | 89 | 82.5 | 4.94 |
| Tadahito Iguchi | 97 | 67 | 82.0 | 5.36 |
| Prince Fielder | 82 | 81 | 81.5 | 4.97 |
| Eric Byrnes | 82 | 79 | 80.5 | 5.05 |
| Mike Lowell | 79 | 80 | 79.5 | 4.87 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 110 | 49 | 79.5 | 4.50 |
| Jorge Posada | 65 | 93 | 79.0 | 6.08 |
| Emil Brown | 77 | 81 | 79.0 | 5.28 |
| Curtis Granderson | 90 | 68 | 79.0 | 4.68 |
| Ramon Hernandez | 66 | 91 | 78.5 | 5.56 |
| Jose Lopez | 78 | 79 | 78.5 | 4.64 |
| Chone Figgins | 93 | 62 | 77.5 | 4.43 |
| Brian McCann | 61 | 93 | 77.0 | 6.64 |
| Conor Jackson | 75 | 79 | 77.0 | 5.63 |
| Jacque Jones | 73 | 81 | 77.0 | 5.18 |
| Orlando Hudson | 87 | 67 | 77.0 | 4.73 |
| Juan Encarnacion | 74 | 79 | 76.5 | 4.87 |
| Mark DeRosa | 78 | 74 | 76.0 | 5.33 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 84 | 68 | 76.0 | 4.60 |
| Barry Bonds | 74 | 77 | 75.5 | 7.33 |
| Brad Hawpe | 67 | 84 | 75.5 | 5.54 |
| Juan Rivera | 65 | 85 | 75.0 | 6.08 |
| Alexis Rios | 68 | 82 | 75.0 | 5.96 |
| Felipe Lopez | 98 | 52 | 75.0 | 4.28 |
| Garret Anderson | 63 | 85 | 74.0 | 4.92 |
| Marcus Giles | 87 | 60 | 73.5 | 4.66 |
| Eric Chavez | 74 | 72 | 73.0 | 5.02 |
| Omar Vizquel | 88 | 58 | 73.0 | 4.55 |
| Ivan Rodriguez | 74 | 69 | 71.5 | 4.78 |
| Shea Hillenbrand | 73 | 68 | 70.5 | 4.61 |
| Craig Biggio | 79 | 62 | 70.5 | 4.37 |
| Robinson Cano | 62 | 78 | 70.0 | 5.51 |
| Brandon Phillips | 65 | 75 | 70.0 | 4.55 |
| Brian Roberts | 85 | 55 | 70.0 | 4.40 |
| Mark Teahen | 70 | 69 | 69.5 | 6.56 |
| David DeJesus | 83 | 56 | 69.5 | 5.17 |
| Shawn Green | 73 | 66 | 69.5 | 4.61 |
| Randy Winn | 82 | 56 | 69.0 | 4.21 |
| Kenji Johjima | 61 | 76 | 68.5 | 4.89 |
| Mark Grudzielanek | 85 | 52 | 68.5 | 4.58 |
| Jay Payton | 78 | 59 | 68.5 | 4.48 |
| Josh Willingham | 62 | 74 | 68.0 | 4.81 |
| Reed Johnson | 86 | 49 | 67.5 | 5.59 |
| Ken Griffey Jr. | 62 | 72 | 67.0 | 5.38 |
| Ty Wigginton | 55 | 79 | 67.0 | 5.34 |
| Nicholas Markakis | 72 | 62 | 67.0 | 4.96 |
| Mark Loretta | 75 | 59 | 67.0 | 3.80 |
| Luis Castillo | 84 | 49 | 66.5 | 4.10 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | 60 | 72 | 66.0 | 5.77 |
| Matthew Murton | 70 | 62 | 66.0 | 5.24 |
| Geoff Jenkins | 62 | 70 | 66.0 | 4.86 |
| Jason Michaels | 77 | 55 | 66.0 | 4.70 |
| Casey Blake | 63 | 68 | 65.5 | 5.82 |
| Rich Aurilia | 61 | 70 | 65.5 | 5.49 |
| Mike Jacobs | 54 | 77 | 65.5 | 4.82 |
| Scott Podsednik | 86 | 45 | 65.5 | 4.24 |
| Russell Martin | 65 | 65 | 65.0 | 5.43 |
| Preston Wilson | 58 | 72 | 65.0 | 4.45 |
| Joshua Barfield | 72 | 58 | 65.0 | 4.32 |
| Ronnie Belliard | 63 | 67 | 65.0 | 4.20 |
| Jeff Kent | 61 | 68 | 64.5 | 5.77 |
| Paul Lo Duca | 80 | 49 | 64.5 | 4.76 |
| A.J. Pierzynski | 65 | 64 | 64.5 | 4.71 |
| Kevin Millar | 64 | 64 | 64.0 | 5.24 |
| Corey Patterson | 75 | 53 | 64.0 | 5.01 |
| Tony Graffanino | 68 | 59 | 63.5 | 4.96 |
| Juan Pierre | 87 | 40 | 63.5 | 3.28 |
| Bernie Williams | 65 | 61 | 63.0 | 5.28 |
| Jason Kendall | 76 | 50 | 63.0 | 4.07 |
| Morgan Ensberg | 67 | 58 | 62.5 | 5.51 |
| Melky Cabrera | 75 | 50 | 62.5 | 4.88 |
| Ben Broussard | 61 | 63 | 62.0 | 5.23 |
| Dave Roberts | 80 | 44 | 62.0 | 4.54 |
| Juan Uribe | 53 | 71 | 62.0 | 4.50 |
| Aubrey Huff | 57 | 66 | 61.5 | 4.74 |
| David Bell | 60 | 63 | 61.5 | 4.24 |
| Jim Edmonds | 52 | 70 | 61.0 | 5.97 |
| Phil Nevin | 54 | 68 | 61.0 | 5.20 |
| Ian Kinsler | 65 | 55 | 60.0 | 4.98 |
| Jamey Carroll | 84 | 36 | 60.0 | 4.64 |
| Kenny Lofton | 79 | 41 | 60.0 | 4.62 |
| Xavier Nady | 57 | 63 | 60.0 | 4.59 |
| Jeff Conine | 54 | 66 | 60.0 | 4.29 |
| Aaron Hill | 70 | 50 | 60.0 | 3.96 |
| Jose Castillo | 54 | 65 | 59.5 | 3.83 |
| Jose Valentin | 56 | 62 | 59.0 | 5.44 |
| Nick Punto | 73 | 45 | 59.0 | 4.60 |
| Shane Victorino | 70 | 46 | 58.0 | 5.13 |
| Mark Ellis | 64 | 52 | 58.0 | 4.46 |
| Mark Kotsay | 57 | 59 | 58.0 | 4.01 |
| Mike Lamb | 70 | 45 | 57.5 | 5.49 |
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 68 | 47 | 57.5 | 3.73 |
| Johnny Estrada | 43 | 71 | 57.0 | 4.90 |
| Kevin Mench | 45 | 68 | 56.5 | 4.50 |
| Scott Hatteberg | 62 | 51 | 56.5 | 4.45 |
| Clint Barmes | 57 | 56 | 56.5 | 3.95 |
| Willy Taveras | 83 | 30 | 56.5 | 3.82 |
| Frank Catalanotto | 56 | 56 | 56.0 | 4.67 |
| Jonny Gomes | 53 | 59 | 56.0 | 4.64 |
| Trot Nixon | 59 | 52 | 55.5 | 5.06 |
| Khalil Greene | 56 | 55 | 55.5 | 4.54 |
| Adam Everett | 52 | 59 | 55.5 | 3.69 |
| Miguel Olivo | 52 | 58 | 55.0 | 4.47 |
| Placido Polanco | 58 | 52 | 55.0 | 4.28 |
| Jose Bautista | 58 | 51 | 54.5 | 4.51 |
| Todd Walker | 56 | 53 | 54.5 | 4.42 |
| Rickie Weeks | 73 | 34 | 53.5 | 5.29 |
| Michael Barrett | 54 | 53 | 53.5 | 5.23 |
| Mike Piazza | 39 | 68 | 53.5 | 4.78 |
| Sean Casey | 47 | 59 | 53.0 | 4.72 |
| Aaron Rowand | 59 | 47 | 53.0 | 4.50 |
| Steve Finley | 66 | 40 | 53.0 | 4.32 |
| Julio Lugo | 69 | 37 | 53.0 | 4.27 |
| Milton Bradley | 53 | 52 | 52.5 | 5.25 |
| Andre Ethier | 50 | 55 | 52.5 | 4.79 |
| Adam Kennedy | 50 | 55 | 52.5 | 3.96 |
| Jack Wilson | 70 | 35 | 52.5 | 3.39 |
| Wilson Betemit | 49 | 53 | 51.0 | 4.76 |
| Jorge Cantu | 40 | 62 | 51.0 | 4.14 |
| Jason Varitek | 46 | 55 | 50.5 | 4.67 |
| Ben Molina | 44 | 57 | 50.5 | 4.16 |
| Joey Gathright | 59 | 41 | 50.0 | 4.38 |
| Jose Vidro | 52 | 47 | 49.5 | 3.83 |
| Angel Berroa | 45 | 54 | 49.5 | 3.44 |
| Chris Burke | 58 | 40 | 49.0 | 4.83 |
| Alex Gonzalez | 48 | 50 | 49.0 | 4.38 |
| Chris Shelton | 50 | 47 | 48.5 | 4.61 |
| Coco Crisp | 58 | 36 | 47.0 | 4.05 |
| Ryan Freel | 67 | 27 | 47.0 | 3.66 |
| Marco Scutaro | 52 | 41 | 46.5 | 4.33 |
| Ronny Paulino | 37 | 55 | 46.0 | 3.83 |
| Ronny Cedeno | 51 | 41 | 46.0 | 2.93 |
| David Eckstein | 68 | 23 | 45.5 | 3.32 |
| Royce Clayton | 49 | 40 | 44.5 | 3.34 |
| John Buck | 37 | 50 | 43.5 | 4.04 |
| Craig Counsell | 56 | 30 | 43.0 | 4.05 |
| Brian Schneider | 30 | 55 | 42.5 | 3.54 |
| Brady Clark | 51 | 29 | 40.0 | 3.33 |
| Brian N Anderson | 46 | 33 | 39.5 | 3.60 |
| Aaron Miles | 48 | 30 | 39.0 | 3.23 |
| Yadier Molina | 29 | 49 | 39.0 | 3.04 |
| Cory Sullivan | 47 | 30 | 38.5 | 3.48 |
| Brad Ausmus | 37 | 39 | 38.0 | 2.83 |
If you count by runs per out, you will see that the top 10 is Pujols, Hafner, Beltran, Howard, Ortiz, Thome, Berkman, Chipper, Giambi, and Dye. The bottom ten (starting at the bottom): Ausmus, Ronny Cedeno, Yadier Molina, Miles, Pierre, Eckstein (three Cardinals already!), Brady Clark, Clayton, Jack Wilson, and Berroa (that’s 8 out of 10 in the NL Central). You will also see that Jeter beats Mauer 6.73 to 6.14, although of course the rest of the Yankee offense does have a fair bit to do with that.
I’d like to point out that, like RBI’s, the number of runs a player scores is also dependant upon one’s teamates. So your argument that “runs scored” is more significant than RBI’s is somewhat flawed. I’d say they’re about even.
And we haven’t even gotten to park factors!
Howard, as we all know, plays in Coors Field East. Which would make it Yuengling Field, I guess.
Yo Crank,
You seem to have and aversion to giving any credit to Ryan Howard. Hello! runs scored depends alot on who hits behind you, and Howard had the weaker guys behind him.
By the way, Utley led the league in runs scored, I guess that means he outscored your man Reyes.
Joe
(Yes, I do live in Philadelphia)
Joe-
Ball. Park. Factors.
Mike,
Overratted. Citizens Bank Park dimensions are in line with the other parks. The big problem is the Phillies pitching. Until Howard came along most of the Homers were hit by the visiting team.
When I tuned into the Home Run hitting contest at the All Star Game, I got the David Wright Show. The Media Powers in New York had decided that one of their own was going to become a Superstar that night. Was it 3 special features on David Wright, or 33, I lost count.
Then Ryan Howard ruined the whole show by hitting about twice as many homers as Wright. The TV people could hardly pull themselves away from the David Wright Story to tell the public what was actually happening. Then Howard goes on to finish the season with 58 home runs to David Wrights 26.
I guess if I were a Mets fan, I would resent Howard too.
Wright is a likeable guy and had a great season, but if those in New York who run the National Media are going to continue to over hype him he will become a national joke.
Joe
Interesting list. While I agree that there are ball park factors, the bottom line is this shows something useful.
By the way, Jeff Manto (Batting coach of the Pirates) uses this statatistic as his measure of how weel a hitter is performing. He was creamed on the Pirate blogs for this but I agree with him.
Lee,
I’m Lost.
Joe
Crank,
Why would this measure be superior to net runs per game? ((RS+RBI)-HR)? Pujols might lead this one, given the time he was sidelined. Jeter would rank higher than Rodriguez, as Jeter produced more net runs and played in fewer games.
chsw