Joe Mauer - Did you know?

[BigDDude]

Albert Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki are slowing down and Joe Mauer is on fire right now, which has allowed Mauer to take over the active career lead in batting average at .324.
Here’s the leaderboard:
Joe Mauer .324
Albert Pujols .323
Ichiro Suzuki .321
Miguel Cabrera .320
Todd Helton .320
Joey Votto .317
Ryan Braun .313
Derek Jeter .313
Matt Holliday .312
Robinson Cano .308

 

[romeo212000]

Mauer is a stud and a class act but batting average is like 4th on my list of important stats.

 

[Chef99]

Mauer is a stud and a class act but batting average is like 4th on my list of important stats.

Good thing not everyone goes by the same list. I'd take Mauer on my team any day.

 

[romeo212000]

Good thing not everyone goes by the same list. I'd take Mauer on my team any day.

I don't disagree. I would too. But I'll take OBP, and ops over batting average any day.

 

[fordman84]

I don't disagree. I would too. But I'll take OBP, and ops over batting average any day.

troof

 

[Tubbs1518]

Which is why Votto is the man.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

I don't disagree. I would too. But I'll take OBP, and ops over batting average any day.

Joe really delivers when it comes to OBP as well.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I actually think BA is a better stat than OBP... Although it really depends on where the batter is in the lineup... A lead off man is all about OBP...

 

[romeo212000]

I actually think BA is a better stat than OBP... Although it really depends on where the batter is in the lineup... A lead off man is all about OBP...

It's always about OBP. A player with a high OBP grinds out at bats and works the pitcher. Batting average is affected so much by babip that it can be misleading.

 

[romeo212000]

Joe really delivers when it comes to OBP as well.

That he does.

 

[steveringo]

Albert Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki are slowing down and Joe Mauer is on fire right now, which has allowed Mauer to take over the active career lead in batting average at .324.
Here’s the leaderboard:
Joe Mauer .324
Albert Pujols .323
Ichiro Suzuki .321
Miguel Cabrera .320
Todd Helton .320
Joey Votto .317
Ryan Braun .313
Derek Jeter .313
Matt Holliday .312
Robinson Cano .308

Awesome! A good batting average and a bag of nickles can get you a good seat at Red Lobster!

 

[MilkSpiller22]

It's always about OBP. A player with a high OBP grinds out at bats and works the pitcher. Batting average is affected so much by babip that it can be misleading.

Both statistics have there advantages... A hit is better than a walk no matter what. a walk can only score runs if Bases loaded... OBPs true purpose is to predict theoretical runs(the more on base the more you should score). BA is a better statistic for hitting and better to predict RBIs. Just like all statistics alone it does not tell the whole picture...

 

[MilkSpiller22]

It's always about OBP. A player with a high OBP grinds out at bats and works the pitcher. Batting average is affected so much by babip that it can be misleading.

Understanding statistics is very important... It is very hard to have a high OBP without a high BA... they are dependent on eachother... But if 2 palyers have similar OBPs i will generally take the person with the higher BA... That is generally speaking, i dont need examples to why this is wrong... you will always find exceptions...

 

[romeo212000]

Both statistics have there advantages... A hit is better than a walk no matter what. a walk can only score runs if Bases loaded... OBPs true purpose is to predict theoretical runs(the more on base the more you should score). BA is a better statistic for hitting and better to predict RBIs. Just like all statistics alone it does not tell the whole picture...

High OBP is always about grinding out at bats and working the pitcher. Having a team that can do that will do more damage over the course of a game than a few hits will, especially when you consider the ability to knock a starter out earlier and get to the bullpen

Understanding statistics is very important... It is very hard to have a high OBP without a high BA... they are dependent on eachother... But if 2 palyers have similar OBPs i will generally take the person with the higher BA... That is generally speaking, i dont need examples to why this is wrong... you will always find exceptions...

It's not that out there to have a player with a lower batting average say .280 compared to .260 but have the .260 hitter have an OBP .25 points higher than the .280 hitter. In that scenario ill take the higher OBP every time. Especially if the .260 hitter also has a higher slugging percentage for a higher OPS. Now, if their ops' are similar then I agree, I'll take the player who hits for higher average evey time.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I actually think BA is a better stat than OBP... Although it really depends on where the batter is in the lineup... A lead off man is all about OBP...

I am usually quick to defend BA, but i dont actually believe there is such thing as one stat to be better than the other... especially with OBP and BA... I just feel that BA has been getting some hate recently, and i just dont understand...

 

[romeo212000]

I am usually quick to defend BA, but i dont actually believe there is such thing as one stat to be better than the other... especially with OBP and BA... I just feel that BA has been getting some hate recently, and i just dont understand...

Batting average isn't going anywhere but people are starting to understand its not the best stat to judge a player by. Michael Young last year is a perfect example. What good does it do to have him hitting .277 if he's only getting on base at a .312 clip with a .682 OPS? Hell 2/3 of the way through the season his OBP was sitting at a whopping .297.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

High OBP is always about grinding out at bats and working the pitcher. Having a team that can do that will do more damage over the course of a game than a few hits will, especially when you consider the ability to knock a starter out earlier and get to the bullpen



It's not that out there to have a player with a lower batting average say .280 compared to .260 but have the .260 hitter have an OBP .25 points higher than the .280 hitter. In that scenario ill take the higher OBP every time. Especially if the .260 hitter also has a higher slugging percentage for a higher OPS. Now, if their ops' are similar then I agree, I'll take the player who hits for higher average evey time.

I get what you are saying and you are right in that case that OBP is a better indicator. But, when you are dealing with the better hitters in the league they all do a good job of hitting for average and getting on on base. So average may tell you just as much and even be better.

Working the count is huge and I think most of the good average hitter all do that. Mauer for example rarely swings at the 1st pitch and usually hits with two strikes so his AB's will consist of at least 3 pitches almost every time. Then you have a guy like Cano who like all Yankees grinds out a lot of AB's with foul balls but still doesn't walk a whole lot.

I think OBP is more important when separating the averages that you mentioned .260 and .280. When the numbers are more "average". Or between Josh Willingham and Hamilton. Both have putrid averages right now but Willy gets on base at a very high clip right now.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Batting average isn't going anywhere but people are starting to understand its not the best stat to judge a player by. Michael Young last year is a perfect example. What good does it do to have him hitting .277 if he's only getting on base at a .312 clip with a .682 OPS? Hell 2/3 of the way through the season his OBP was sitting at a whopping .297.

You can make that case about anyone... Look at nick swisher, what good is a Good OBP guy if he only hits .260... Looking at a stats flaws and picking on it is showing ignorance of the stat... BA is simply how often do you get a hit... that is all it is... but hitting is one of the most important things in baseball and therefore BA will always be an important statistic... The problem is not the statistic it is that people used to use it as a who is better statistic, and now we have statistics like WAR and RC that use mathematical formulas using other statistics, that can better judge the full picture than BA ever could... Only the statistical ignorant people claim that BA is not an important stat...

 

[Nosferatu]

Someone said it matters where the player hits in the lineup and I agree with that, I think we would all rather have our leadoff hitter with a higher OBP no matter his batting average but if the player bats 4th OBP is less important than batting Avg because its his job to get whoever is on base home and taking a walk doesn't always get that done.

 

[romeo212000]

Someone said it matters where the player hits in the lineup and I agree with that, I think we would all rather have our leadoff hitter with a higher OBP no matter his batting average but if the player bats 4th OBP is less important than batting Avg because its his job to get whoever is on base home and taking a walk doesn't always get that done.

It's every hitters job to grind out at bats and get on base. Doing so will get your opportunities to see better pitches to hit and this, drive in runs.