When OBP > SLG
The best part of what analysts call a “slash line” is that we get to see the on-base percentage and slugging percentage stacked up next to the traditional barometer, batting average. Looking at the three of these metrics, side by side, can help us understand which players are great all-around, which are purely power hitters, or which ones have a tremendous eye. For instance, a .333/.420/.560 slash line looks Pujols-esque; the player has a high percentage of hits that consist of singles as well as those of the extra base variety. A Dunn-type line of .244/.368/.571 would offer that the player has a great eye, as his OBP vastly exceeds his BA, and that he is a great power hitter, because although the BA is low, the value of the hits put into the equation are, more often than not, greater than a single.
When we see the slash line, though, sometimes it looks a bit “off.” We are almost trained to see the three numbers increase as we move from left to right, but occasionally a player will post a higher OBP than SLG, which looks nutty in slash line form. Someone hitting .273/.332/.328 just looks, well, different from the mold. It tells us that he has almost no power to his name and that the vast majority of his hits are singles.
This year, five players that qualify for the leaderboard are posting higher OBPs than SLGs: Willy Taveras, Gregor Blanco, Chone Figgins, Jason Kendall, and Ryan Theriot. To no surprise, these five players have combined for a whopping six home runs this year. If a player has absolutely no power yet still holds down a major league job, he either must play Ozzie Smith-caliber defense, or serve as a menace on the basepaths. As we might expect, while these five combine for just about half the amount of home runs Ryan Howard has over the last month, they have stolen 141 bases between them.
Curious to see if players have posted a higher OBP than SLG for an extended period of time, I probed the Baseball Reference Play Index, looking for anyone from 1983-2008 with at least 3,000 PA. The following thirteen names surfaced:
- Dave Magadan, .390/.377
- Willie Randolph, .375/.347
- Quilvio Veras, .372/.362
- Luis Castillo, .367/.356
- Walt Weiss, .351/.326
- Ozzie Smith, .351/.346
- Mark McLemore, .349/.341
- Jose Oquendo, .346/.317
- Otis Nixon, .343/.314
- Wally Backman, .343/.335
- Garry Pettis, .332/.309
- Darren Lewis, .323/.322
- Felix Fermin, .305/.303
Pretty safe to say these guys fit the bill described above, as either defensive wizards, menaces on the basepaths, or utility players that can fill any and all gaps for teams. While there were thirteen players that have posted a higher OBP than SLG over 3000+ PA, the number seems relatively small given a 25-26 year span. None of these players are hall of famers, other than Ozzie, but it is still pretty remarkable they were able to stick around for so long with next to no power in their arsenal.
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What’s a trip is also seeing someone’s BA higher than their OBP when they’re not a pitcher. How often has this occurred for someone who has played over any significant amount of time?
I checked out the BA>OBP on BR-PI, and found these seasons
Jim Adduci (1988): 97 PA, .266/.258/.383, 25-94, 0 BB, 3 SF
Bobby Clark (1982): 93 PA, .211/.209/.289, 19-90, O BB, 1 SF
Billy Beane (1989): 82 PA, .241/.238/.304, 19-79, 0 BB, 1 SF
Not exactly Moneyball right there. Its really tough to get lots of plate appearances with this because having BB+HBP<SF is just absurd
Ryan Theriot is only a hazard to his team on the basepaths – sure, he has 21 steals, but 13 caught stealings, for a fan-flipping-tastic 61% success rate. He is a good defensive shortstop, except for his arm and his range.
Sounds wonderful, Colin.
What happened to Quilvio Veras? .372 career OBP and he can’t get a job after age 30? Injuries? Only reason I ask is because he gave me his bat at a Braves game in one of the years he played for them.
Dan, he’s mentioned in Schuerholz’s book but I can’t remember exactly what it was. I know he had major character flaws while with them, like a DUI or beating his wife or something and the Braves didn’t want that, but yeah, you would imagine someone else would bite.
Ah, Dave Magadan. Never really had the skillset to be a corner infielder (42 homers in 4159 AB) but good plate discipline and a solid 716/586 BB/K ratio. Sort of a poor man’s Ferris Fain, hmm?
So wonderful I could weep.
A couple more players who put up these types of lines this year, but didn’t qualify:
Emmanuel Burriss – .283/.357/.329 in 240 ABs
Willie Bloomquist – .279/.377/.285! in 165 ABs
Bloomquist’s line is a serious WTF moment. No clue how that happened.
“Not exactly Moneyball right there.”
I can’t tell if this was intentionally ironic or not, given that Billy Beane is himself one of the players on HfB’s list.
Willie Ballgame had an incredible streak of at-bats without an extra-base hit of any kind going earlier this season. Looks like he finally hit a double or something. What’s really amazing is that he somehow has an almost .100 isolated OBP. How on earth does anyone walk him?
Excuse my ignorance, but how is it POSSIBLE for OBP to be lower than slugging. Wouldn’t a player who singles oce every four at bats have the same on base and slugging percentage?