Opening Day is here! Well, sort of. The Dodgers and Cubs played a two game series two weeks ago in Japan. That will never make sense to me. I don’t have a problem with them playing over there. I just have a problem with them playing there two weeks before the season begins.
Speaking of the Dodgers, they are definitely the team to beat. They have something like 18 starting pitchers and 20 All-Star calibur fielders. In other words, they are loaded. They have the money. And they’re not afraid to spend it. Seems like some other owners out there should spend more money. MLB doesn’t need a salary max cap. It needs a salary min cap.
I’ve “invented” a new stat. I say “invented” very loosely. I call it “Total Offensive Production”. We’ve had batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and more recently, on base + slugging. Well, this goes one step further. Look at those other categories and see if you can figure out what is being left out of them. I’ll give you a hint. Base running. Or more specifically, base stealing. All I’ve done is include it. So here is the formula for TOP:
TOP = (Total Bases + Base on Balls + Stolen Bases - Caught Stealing + Hit By Pitch) / Plate Appearances
Basically, it measures the number of bases a player accumulates per plate appearance. It doesn’t care how they get those bases.
Looking at the 2024 stats, I determined that the league average TOP was .466.
Here’s the top 20 hitters by TOP for those eligible for the batting title (502 plate appearances) in 2024:
| Rank | Player | TOP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Judge | .774 |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | .760 |
| 3 | Juan Soto | .651 |
| 4 | Bobby Witt Jr. | .646 |
| 5 | Yordan Alvarez | .627 |
| 6 | Jose Ramirez | .620 |
| 7 | Brent Rooker | .617 |
| 8 | Ketel Marte | .614 |
| 9 | Gunnar Henderson | .605 |
| 10 | Elly De La Cruz | .601 |
| 11 | Marcell Ozuna | .595 |
| 12 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | .591 |
| 13 | Bryce Harper | .587 |
| 14 | Francisco Lindor | .583 |
| 15 | Mookie Betts | .576 |
| 16 | Rafel Devers | .572 |
| 17 | Jarren Duran | .568 |
| 18 | Kyle Schwarber | .565 |
| 19 | Teoscar Hernandez | .561 |
| 20 | Corey Seager | .561 |
Here is team hitting ranked by TOP for 2024:
| Rank | Team | TOP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | .520 |
| 2 | Arizona Diamondbacks | .508 |
| 3 | New York Yankees | .501 |
| 4 | Baltimore Orioles | .495 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Phillies | .495 |
| 6 | Milwaukee Brewers | .492 |
| 7 | Boston Red Sox | .489 |
| 8 | New York Mets | .484 |
| 9 | San Diego Padres | .482 |
| 10 | Houston Astros | .476 |
| 11 | Atlanta Braves | .473 |
| 12 | Cincinnati Reds | .473 |
| 13 | Chicago Cubs | .470 |
| 14 | Minnesota Twins | .470 |
| 15 | Cleveland Guardians | .466 |
| 16 | Kansas City Royals | .465 |
| 17 | Seattle Mariners | .463 |
| 18 | Colorado Rockies | .457 |
| 19 | Oakland Athletics | .457 |
| 20 | Toronto Blue Jays | .455 |
| 21 | San Francisco Giants | .454 |
| 22 | Washington Nationals | .453 |
| 23 | St. Louis Cardinals | .452 |
| 24 | Texas Rangers | .446 |
| 25 | Detroit Tigers | .445 |
| 26 | Tampa Bay Rays | .445 |
| 27 | Los Angeles Angels | .441 |
| 28 | Pittsburgh Pirates | .439 |
| 29 | Miami Marlins | .436 |
| 30 | Chicago White Sox | .398 |