Because RBI are a context-driven stat and a batter cannot control how many of his teammates are on base when he comes to the plate, however many runs a batter drives in is largely out of his control. In a radio interview in 2009, then-Boston GM Theo Epstein said:
Sometimes you guys [in the media] get stuck evaluating players through home runs and RBIs. It's not the way most clubs do it these days. ... [Y]ou guys can talk about RBI if you want. We ignore them in the front office. ... If you want to talk about RBI at all, talk about them as a percentage of opportunity, but it simply is not a way that we use to evaluate offensive players.You might think that since the Red Sox front office has "ignored" RBIs for at least a decade, the men and women who cover the team might not lean too heavily on the stat, and enlighten the fans why RBIs are fairly useless and perhaps suggest a better way of measuring production. (You would be wrong.)
As Epstein said, if anyone is going to bother with RBI, look them "as a percentage of opportunity". Which makes perfect sense. Even the most statistically-adverse fan can understand that a guy who drove in 100 of 400 (25%) men on base is not a better "run producer" than the guy who drove in 70 of 150 (47%), even though the first player has 30 more RBI.
So who are the best at driving in runs on the Red Sox, through the first 45 games of the season?
First , the counting stats:
PA RBI Betts 192 30 Benintendi 195 25 Moreland 183 24 Pedroia 185 21 Ramirez 152 20 Bogaerts 177 15 Leon 94 14 Young 109 12 Bradley 112 11 Sandoval 67 10I couldn't resist putting in plate appearances, too. They tell us that some guys, most notably Sandy Leon, have clearly made the most of their opportunities. Although Leon has 83 fewer plate appearances than Xander Bogaerts, he has driven in almost as many runs.
Baseball Prospectus has, among its stats, "RBI Opportunities". The table below lists, plate appearances, number of plate appearances with runners on base, the number of men on each base when the player batted, how many runners were batted in from each base, total baserunners, others batted in (RBI-HR), the percentage of runners on each base driven in, and the percentage of all baserunners batted in.
We see that Mookie Betts, in addition to leading the team with 30 RBI, has also driven in the highest percentage of baserunners. Andrew Benintendi has batted with 22 more baserunners than Betts, but has five fewer RBI. And when it comes to converting men on second or third into runs, Leon is pretty much the best hitter on the team.
PA PA_ROB R1 R2 R3 R1_BI R2_BI R3_BI ROB OBI R1BI% R2BI% R3BI% OBI% Betts 192 81 60 39 16 7 10 6 115 23 11.7% 25.6% 37.5% 20.0% Leon 94 40 29 17 8 1 5 4 54 10 3.4% 29.4% 50.0% 18.5% Pedroia 185 76 48 42 15 3 9 7 105 19 6.3% 21.4% 46.7% 18.1% Moreland 183 84 59 34 23 3 7 9 116 19 5.1% 20.6% 39.1% 16.4% Rutledge 45 21 17 8 8 0 1 4 33 5 0.0% 12.5% 50.0% 15.1% Benintendi 195 99 70 41 26 3 8 9 137 20 4.3% 19.5% 34.6% 14.6% Bogaerts 177 76 51 33 20 3 4 9 104 15 5.9% 12.1% 45.0% 14.4% Marrero 45 24 17 6 7 0 2 2 30 4 0.0% 33.3% 28.6% 13.3% Sandoval 67 38 25 18 12 2 2 3 55 7 8.0% 11.1% 25.0% 12.7% Young 109 53 42 23 14 0 3 7 79 10 0.0% 13.0% 50.0% 12.7% Ramirez 152 76 50 40 22 3 5 6 112 14 6.0% 12.5% 27.3% 12.5% Vazquez 78 37 33 12 7 3 1 2 52 6 9.1% 8.3% 28.6% 11.5% Bradley 112 55 42 20 11 1 3 3 73 7 2.4% 15.0% 27.3% 9.6% Hernandez 60 21 15 10 3 0 1 1 28 2 0.0% 10.0% 33.3% 7.1% Holt 19 11 6 6 4 0 0 1 16 1 0.0% 0.0% 25.0% 6.2% Selsky 9 5 2 3 1 0 0 0 6 0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Travis 4 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% D'arnaud 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%Who are the MLB leaders in OBI%? Looking at players with at least 90 plate appearances, here's the Top 10:
Charlie Blackmon (Rockies) 29.2% (Leads MLB with 42 RBI) Nomar Mazara (Rangers) 24.8% Adam Eaton (Nationals) 24.4% (9th on team in RBI (on DL)) Mark Reynolds (Rockies) 23.3% Eduardo Escobar (Twins) 23.1% (7th on team in RBI) Travis Shaw (Brewers) 23.0% Aaron Altherr (Phillies) 22.7% Manny Pina (Brewers) 22.2% (11th on team in RBI) Avisail Garcia (White Sox) 22.0% Jean Segura (Mariners) 22.0%Two other players:
Top MFY: Roland Torreyes, 21.3% Mike Trout (Angels), 17.5%
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