Yeah, yeah, so comparing positions using a stat that already contains positional adjustments was pretty dumb (original article). Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard to change my spreadsheet to use MLVr instead of VORPr. MLVr is the rate version of Marginal Lineup Value. Basically, it’s the number of runs per game that a player will add to an average lineup. The average, by deifintion, is zero. Keither Woolner gives it a pretty good walk-through, if you’re interested.
To start, here are the positional MLVr averages:
1b .13 2B .00 3B .03 SS -.02 LF .07 CF .01 RF .08 C -.07 DH .09 P -.65 PH -.14
Those figures look a lot better than before. 1B is the strongest position by far, with CF barely beating out 2B and SS. No offense to Julio Franco, but couldn’t NL teams benefit from carrying better pinch-hitters?
Here’s another look at how some of the positional distributions compare to each other. First up, a look at 1Bs compared with 2B and the overall total distribution:
The overall distribution is skewed right with a median to the left of zero. That means the majority of players are below average, as would be expected. 1Bs are quite talented, with some of the league’s best hitters out in that far-right fringe. 2Bs have a much narrower distribution, similar to the overall distribution, but with some strange peaks and valleys.
Next up, the outfield:
Centerfield is obviously a much weaker position, with it’s median far to the left of average. Rightfield has a slight advantage over leftfield. Which leftfielders caused that bump on the far left? Mostly Tony Womack, with a hint of Eric Byrnes and Timo Perez.
The infield:
Secondbase is clearly a little better than shortstop, although neither position had any stars. Thirdbase has a high peak that’s significantly negative, but some high-quality thirdbasemen skew the distribution to the right a lot.
Up the middle:
These defensive positions are definitely not very offensive. Not a lot of variation between catchers, huh?
The power positions:
Designated hitter is one of the least consistent positions. Some are fantastic (Hafner and Ortiz) and some are not (Scott Hatteberg and a large collection of part-time guys who should have been pinch-hitters instead of designated-hitters.)
An interesting project would be to gather this sort of data from past years and see not only how the relative abilities of the positions change, but if the distribution of talent within any position changes for any reasons. I’m sure shortstop would look a lot different with ARod, Tejada, Nomar, and Jeter in their primes.
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Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.