skyking162

That’s a cool graph. What is it? It’s a histogram showing the relative VORPrate distributions between 1B, 2B, and all players in 2005. As expected, most players perform above replacement level (0.0 VORPr), but I’m surprised at how many plate appearances actually come from players below replacement level. Compared to average, 1Bs both have fewer bad hitters and more good hitters — their distribution is pretty much the ALL distribution shifted to the right. On the other hand, the 2B distribution is pretty funky. It looks as though a large chunk of exactly replacement level talent has been moved — some to below replacement and some above replacement level. I’m guessing it’s just a yearly aberration. 2Bs also seems to have fewer horrible and outstanding PAs at the ends. Overall, the mean and median VORPr for 1Bs are .18 and .07, respectively. For 2B, they’re .12 and .15. Here’s the full list for every position, as determined by Baseball Prospectus. Next to each number I’ve listed a player that performed at that level in 2005, for intuition’s sake:

    MED   Name        AVG  Name
1b  .07	  Shea H.    .18  Matt S.
2B  .15	  Ryan F.    .12  Mark G.
3B  .08	  Aaron H.   .12  Ty Wig
SS  .12	  Edgar R.   .14  Khalil G.
LF  .14	  Rickey L.  .13  Eric B.
CF  .10	  Aaron R.   .11  Carlos B.
RF  .15	  Jason L.   .14  Trot N.
CA  .10	  AJ P.      .08  Toby H.
DH  .18	  Raul I.    .18  Raul I.
P   -.17  Rob Tejeda .00  Kirk R.
PH  -.07  Jose O.   -.05  Jose V.

How about a graph of the three OF positions?:

Seems to back up what we already assume about CF being a weaker offensive position than the corners.

And here’s a graph comparing the power positions of RF, 1B, and DH:

That’s right, DH as a power position is always overrated. Yeah, there are a couple top studs who can mash, but the rest of the group is very Raul Ibanez-like.

How about one more, with the up-the-middle positions of CA, 2B, SS, and CF:

You know, I’m not sure I should have used VORPrate for this excercise, as VORP already takes into account a player’s position when computing his value. The shape of each position’s distribution won’t change, but the relative shapes would change greatly, which was the whole point of this investigation. (You’ll notice that the average pinch hitter looks worse than the average pitcher according to the table above. Oops.) I’ll have to try this again…

Hat Tip…

… to Baseball Prospectus’ VORP report.

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