2011 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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2011 Season

The 2011 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

Next in my continuing series of looking at individual seasons through the prism of Player won-lost records is the 2011 season. The final day of the 2011 regular season might have been the greatest day of baseball ever. Game 6 of the World Series might have been the greatest World Series game ever. Overall, it was a pretty good year for baseball.

The Best of 2011

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Matt Kemp	26.7	18.7	7.3	9.5	1	Matt Kemp	26.7	18.7	7.3	9.5
2	Ryan J. Braun	24.3	16.7	7.2	9.2	2	Ryan J. Braun	24.3	16.7	7.2	9.2
3	Justin Verlander	16.6	9.8	7.1	8.7	3	Justin Verlander	16.6	9.8	7.1	8.7
4	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	23.3	16.0	6.7	8.6	4	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	23.3	16.0	6.7	8.6
5	Roy Halladay	15.6	10.5	6.3	7.8	5	Jacoby Ellsbury	25.1	18.6	6.2	8.4
6	Clayton Kershaw	16.8	11.5	6.3	7.9	6	Miguel Cabrera	22.3	14.9	6.2	8.0
7	Cliff P. Lee	17.3	12.1	6.2	7.9	7	Curtis Granderson	23.3	17.1	6.0	8.0
8	Jacoby Ellsbury	25.1	18.6	6.2	8.4	8	Clayton Kershaw	16.8	11.5	6.3	7.9
9	Miguel Cabrera	22.3	14.9	6.2	8.0	9	Cliff P. Lee	17.3	12.1	6.2	7.9
10	Josh Hamilton	18.6	12.3	6.1	7.6	10	Roy Halladay	15.6	10.5	6.3	7.8

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	24.2	15.1	8.5	10.4	1	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	24.2	15.1	8.5	10.4
2	Clayton Kershaw	16.9	11.5	6.7	8.3	2	Matt Kemp	26.1	19.3	6.3	8.5
3	Ryan J. Braun	23.9	17.2	6.3	8.3	3	Ryan J. Braun	23.9	17.2	6.3	8.3
4	Matt Kemp	26.1	19.3	6.3	8.5	4	Clayton Kershaw	16.9	11.5	6.7	8.3
5	Roy Halladay	15.2	10.9	5.6	7.1	5	Roy Halladay	15.2	10.9	5.6	7.1
6	Evan Longoria	19.4	14.5	5.3	6.9	6	Evan Longoria	19.4	14.5	5.3	6.9
7	Cliff P. Lee	16.7	12.6	5.3	6.9	7	Cliff P. Lee	16.7	12.6	5.3	6.9
8	Jered Weaver	15.0	10.2	5.2	6.7	8	Jered Weaver	15.0	10.2	5.2	6.7
9	Justin Verlander	15.6	10.9	5.0	6.6	9	Troy Tulowitzki	21.6	17.3	4.8	6.7
10	Troy Tulowitzki	21.6	17.3	4.8	6.7	10	Curtis Granderson	22.7	17.7	4.7	6.7

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2011 at the end of this article.

2011 Postseason

On September 5, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals ended the day with a 74-67 record, 8.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the race for the National League wild card.
On September 28, 2011, the Atlanta Braves led the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 with one out in the top of the 9th inning, two outs from clinching at least a tie for the wild card with the Cardinals.
On October 5, 2011, the Cardinals trailed the Phillies two games to one in the best-of-five divisional series and were trailing in game four by a score of 2-1 going into the bottom of the 4th inning.

On October 27, 2011, the Cardinals were one strike from their season ending - twice! - against the Texas Rangers.

On October 28, 2011, Jason Motte got David Murphy to fly out to left fielder Allen Craig and the St. Louis Cardinals were 2011 World Champions.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2011 Postseason: Total

David Freese	SLN	3.1	1.7	1.6
Albert Pujols	SLN	2.5	1.3	1.3
Chris Carpenter (1997)	SLN	2.7	1.8	1.3
Lance Berkman	SLN	2.6	1.4	1.3
Adrian Beltre	TEX	2.5	1.5	1.2
Mike Napoli	TEX	2.3	1.4	1.2
Neftali Feliz	TEX	1.6	0.7	1.0
Ryan J. Braun	MIL	2.0	1.1	1.0
Miguel Cabrera	DET	1.6	0.7	0.9
Ian Kinsler	TEX	2.6	2.0	0.8

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2011 World Series

Lance Berkman	SLN	1.0	0.4	0.7
Derek Holland	TEX	0.8	0.2	0.6
David Freese	SLN	1.2	0.9	0.3
Mike Napoli	TEX	1.1	0.8	0.3
Allen Craig	SLN	1.0	0.6	0.3

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2011 Postseason: League Championship Series

Albert Pujols	SLN	1.3	0.4	1.0
David Freese	SLN	1.2	0.4	0.8
Nelson R. Cruz	TEX	1.1	0.5	0.6
Miguel Cabrera	DET	1.0	0.4	0.6
David Murphy	TEX	0.8	0.4	0.4

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2011 Postseason: Division Series

Ryan J. Braun	MIL	1.1	0.2	0.9
Adrian Beltre	TEX	1.0	0.2	0.8
Chris Carpenter (1997)	SLN	1.0	0.4	0.6
Kelly Shoppach	TBA	0.8	0.3	0.5
Mike Napoli	TEX	0.6	0.2	0.5

Best of 2011 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in various aspects of the game.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 2011 in wins over positional average (WOPA) by factor were as follows.


Batting
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	16.1	9.1	7.0	1	Prince Fielder	19.2	11.1	7.7
2	Matt Kemp	19.0	12.4	6.2	2	Miguel Cabrera	18.3	11.0	7.3
3	Miguel Cabrera	17.5	11.7	5.8	3	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	15.9	9.2	6.7
4	Ryan J. Braun	16.6	10.7	5.6	4	Jacoby Ellsbury	18.3	11.6	6.7
5	Prince Fielder	18.2	12.2	5.6	5	Ryan Howard	17.2	10.6	6.3
6	Joey Votto	16.6	11.6	4.6	6	Ryan J. Braun	16.9	10.4	6.2
7	Lance Berkman	13.5	8.7	4.5	7	Matt Kemp	19.0	12.5	6.1
8	Jacoby Ellsbury	17.0	12.9	4.1	8	Lance Berkman	14.2	8.0	5.9
9	Curtis Granderson	15.8	11.8	4.0	9	Joey Votto	17.0	11.1	5.6
10	Mike Napoli	10.6	6.8	3.9	10	Curtis Granderson	16.5	11.0	5.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Tony Campana	1.1	0.3	0.8	1	Elvis Andrus	2.3	1.3	1.0
2	Coco Crisp	2.1	1.4	0.7	2	Ian Kinsler	1.8	0.9	0.8
3	Ian Kinsler	1.7	1.0	0.7	3	Chase Utley	1.1	0.3	0.8
4	Jose B. Reyes	2.2	1.4	0.7	4	Ryan J. Braun	1.8	1.0	0.8
5	Elvis Andrus	2.1	1.4	0.7	5	Emilio Bonifacio	2.2	1.4	0.7
6	Andres Torres	1.5	0.9	0.6	6	Andres Torres	1.6	0.8	0.7
7	Eric Young Jr.	1.0	0.4	0.6	7	Nyjer Morgan	1.5	0.8	0.7
8	Erick Aybar	1.7	1.1	0.6	8	Ben Revere	1.5	0.9	0.7
9	Will Venable	1.4	0.7	0.6	9	Cameron Maybin	1.6	1.0	0.6
10	Emilio Bonifacio	2.1	1.5	0.6	10	Brett Gardner	1.8	1.2	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Clayton Kershaw	14.8	10.1	4.7	1	Justin Verlander	16.3	9.5	6.8
2	Roy Halladay	13.6	9.2	4.4	2	Roy Halladay	14.6	8.2	6.3
3	Jered Weaver	14.5	10.4	4.1	3	Jered Weaver	15.3	9.5	5.8
4	Justin Verlander	14.9	11.0	3.9	4	Clayton Kershaw	15.1	9.8	5.4
5	Cliff P. Lee	14.5	11.2	3.3	5	Dan Haren	14.8	9.6	5.2
6	Dan Haren	13.8	10.5	3.3	6	Cliff P. Lee	15.3	10.3	5.0
7	Doug Fister	12.3	9.3	3.0	7	Ian Kennedy	15.2	10.4	4.7
8	Craig Kimbrel	6.9	4.0	2.9	8	Jose Valverde	7.8	3.6	4.2
9	Cole Hamels	12.8	10.1	2.7	9	C.C. Sabathia	14.7	10.5	4.2
10	Tim Hudson	12.8	10.2	2.6	10	Cole Hamels	13.4	9.5	3.9

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jeremy Hellickson	0.5	0.1	0.4	1	Henderson Alvarez	0.5	0.0	0.4
2	Wade Davis	0.5	0.2	0.3	2	Wade Davis	0.6	0.1	0.4
3	Drew Storen	0.4	0.1	0.3	3	Jeremy Hellickson	0.5	0.1	0.4
4	Mat Latos	0.5	0.2	0.3	4	Carl Pavano	0.6	0.3	0.3
5	Jonathon Niese	0.4	0.1	0.3	5	Cliff P. Lee	0.5	0.1	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Nick Hundley	1.4	1.0	0.4	1	Kelly Shoppach	1.4	0.7	0.7
2	Matt Wieters	1.6	1.2	0.4	2	Matt Wieters	1.7	1.1	0.6
3	Ramon J. Hernandez	1.2	0.9	0.3	3	Lou Marson	1.2	0.8	0.4
4	Kelly Shoppach	1.2	0.9	0.3	4	Nick Hundley	1.4	1.0	0.4
5	Lou Marson	1.2	0.9	0.2	5	Chris Stewart	1.0	0.6	0.4


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Adrian Gonzalez	2.7	2.0	0.7	1	Adrian Gonzalez	2.8	1.9	0.8
2	Albert Pujols	3.1	2.4	0.7	2	Joey Votto	3.2	2.6	0.6
3	James Loney	2.6	2.2	0.4	3	Albert Pujols	3.1	2.5	0.6
4	Todd Helton	2.3	2.0	0.3	4	Casey Kotchman	2.2	1.8	0.4
5	Adam LaRoche	1.0	0.6	0.3	5	Todd Helton	2.3	1.9	0.4


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Omar Infante	5.8	4.8	1.0	1	Ian Kinsler	5.6	4.4	1.1
2	Ian Kinsler	5.5	4.5	1.0	2	Howie Kendrick	4.3	3.3	0.9
3	Dustin Pedroia	5.4	4.8	0.6	3	Omar Infante	5.7	4.8	0.9
4	Howie Kendrick	4.1	3.6	0.5	4	Dustin Pedroia	5.5	4.7	0.8
5	Alexi Casilla	2.6	2.1	0.5	5	Chase Utley	4.2	3.5	0.7


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Pablo Sandoval	3.9	2.9	1.0	1	Evan Longoria	4.3	3.1	1.3
2	Adrian Beltre	3.8	3.0	0.8	2	Placido Polanco	4.8	3.8	1.0
3	Miguel Tejada	1.9	1.2	0.7	3	Pablo Sandoval	3.9	2.9	1.0
4	Evan Longoria	4.1	3.4	0.7	4	Brett Lawrie	2.1	1.1	1.0
5	Brett Lawrie	1.9	1.3	0.6	5	Ryan Roberts	3.5	2.6	0.9


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Clint Barmes	4.6	3.7	0.9	1	Jimmy Rollins	6.2	5.1	1.1
2	Troy Tulowitzki	5.6	4.8	0.8	2	Yuniesky Betancourt	5.9	4.8	1.1
3	Alex 'Sea Bass' Gonzalez	6.2	5.6	0.7	3	Paul Janish	3.5	2.4	1.1
4	Jimmy Rollins	6.0	5.3	0.7	4	J.J. Hardy	5.7	4.8	0.9
5	Ronny Cedeno	5.7	5.1	0.6	5	Reid Brignac	2.9	2.1	0.8


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Brett Gardner	6.4	4.4	2.0	1	Brett Gardner	6.1	4.7	1.4
2	Alex Gordon	6.6	5.7	0.9	2	Michael Brantley	2.9	1.9	1.0
3	Jose Tabata	3.2	2.7	0.6	3	Sam Fuld	3.2	2.2	1.0
4	Michael Brantley	2.6	2.1	0.5	4	Gerardo Parra	5.4	4.4	0.9
5	Josh Hamilton	3.3	2.8	0.5	5	Jose Tabata	3.4	2.5	0.9


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Austin Jackson	5.5	4.3	1.2	1	Rick Ankiel	4.4	3.3	1.1
2	Rick Ankiel	4.4	3.4	1.0	2	Matt Kemp	5.8	4.9	0.9
3	Franklin Gutierrez	3.9	3.1	0.9	3	Nyjer Morgan	4.0	3.0	0.9
4	Drew Stubbs	5.4	4.9	0.5	4	Drew Stubbs	5.5	4.8	0.7
5	Peter Bourjos	5.6	5.1	0.4	5	Craig Gentry	1.3	0.7	0.6


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	5.6	4.7	0.9	1	Nick Swisher	7.4	5.7	1.7
2	Brian Bogusevic	2.2	1.6	0.6	2	Corey Hart	4.8	3.8	1.0
3	Jayson Werth	7.4	6.8	0.6	3	Will Venable	3.2	2.5	0.7
4	Kosuke Fukudome	5.8	5.3	0.6	4	Brent Lillibridge	1.1	0.5	0.6
5	Will Venable	3.1	2.6	0.5	5	Casper Wells	1.3	0.8	0.5

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2011 Major-League leaders by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position.


Catcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Mike Napoli	6.9	4.2	3.0	1	Alex Avila	14.5	11.0	4.1
2	Alex Avila	13.8	11.8	2.6	2	Miguel Montero	14.2	11.7	2.9
3	Nick Hundley	8.3	6.7	1.8	3	Mike Napoli	6.7	4.5	2.5
4	Miguel Montero	13.6	12.3	1.6	4	Yadier Molina	13.0	10.9	2.4
5	Carlos Santana	9.8	8.8	1.5	5	Russ Martin	11.7	10.3	2.0


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Miguel Cabrera	20.9	15.2	4.6	1	Miguel Cabrera	21.9	14.2	6.6
2	Prince Fielder	21.6	16.2	3.6	2	Prince Fielder	22.7	15.1	6.0
3	Joey Votto	20.5	15.6	3.2	3	Albert Pujols	18.9	12.7	4.8
4	Adrian Gonzalez	18.5	14.2	3.1	4	Joey Votto	21.1	15.1	4.4
5	Albert Pujols	17.9	13.8	2.7	5	Ryan Howard	20.0	14.6	3.9


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Dustin Pedroia	21.1	17.8	3.7	1	Dustin Pedroia	21.4	17.5	4.2
2	Ian Kinsler	20.4	17.3	3.5	2	Robinson Cano	21.0	17.4	3.9
3	Ben Zobrist	16.5	14.3	2.5	3	Chase Utley	14.7	11.1	3.5
4	Robinson Cano	20.3	18.1	2.5	4	Ian Kinsler	20.4	17.3	3.4
5	Howie Kendrick	13.3	12.0	1.5	5	Ben Zobrist	16.6	14.1	2.7


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Evan Longoria	18.8	14.3	5.0	1	Evan Longoria	19.4	13.7	6.1
2	Pablo Sandoval	15.0	11.4	3.7	2	Ryan Roberts	16.0	11.1	4.9
3	Adrian Beltre	15.8	13.1	3.1	3	Kevin Youkilis	15.2	11.5	4.0
4	Aramis Ramirez	18.3	15.5	2.9	4	Adrian Beltre	16.2	12.8	3.8
5	Ryan Roberts	14.8	12.3	2.6	5	Pablo Sandoval	15.0	11.4	3.7


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Troy Tulowitzki	21.3	17.3	4.4	1	Troy Tulowitzki	20.9	17.7	3.7
2	Jimmy Rollins	19.5	17.4	2.5	2	Yunel Escobar	17.2	14.2	3.6
3	Jose B. Reyes	17.4	15.3	2.4	3	Jimmy Rollins	19.8	17.1	3.0
4	J.J. Hardy	17.5	16.0	2.2	4	Jhonny Peralta	18.0	15.7	3.0
5	Elvis Andrus	19.9	19.0	1.7	5	Asdrubal Cabrera	20.4	18.5	2.7


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ryan J. Braun	23.3	17.2	5.7	1	Ryan J. Braun	23.8	17.2	6.7
2	Alex Gordon	21.4	17.3	4.0	2	Josh Hamilton	13.5	9.7	4.9
3	Josh Hamilton	12.4	9.7	2.6	3	Matt Holliday	16.2	12.9	3.2
4	Matt Holliday	15.9	12.9	2.6	4	Alex Gordon	20.9	17.3	3.0
5	Josh Willingham	12.8	11.1	1.6	5	Desmond Jennings	8.0	6.3	2.4


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Matt Kemp	25.6	19.3	5.6	1	Matt Kemp	26.4	18.4	7.2
2	Curtis Granderson	22.4	17.8	4.3	2	Jacoby Ellsbury	24.8	18.3	6.2
3	Jacoby Ellsbury	23.4	19.6	3.4	3	Curtis Granderson	23.2	16.9	6.0
4	Shane Victorino	18.0	14.9	2.5	4	Chris B. Young	21.5	17.2	3.6
5	Andrew McCutchen	21.4	18.4	2.4	5	Shane Victorino	18.6	14.4	3.6


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	19.0	12.7	5.7	1	Lance Berkman	15.5	10.4	4.4
2	Giancarlo Stanton	20.1	16.5	2.4	2	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	18.2	13.4	4.1
3	Hunter Pence	23.0	19.2	2.4	3	Justin Upton	22.5	18.1	3.1
4	Justin Upton	21.9	18.7	1.9	4	Carlos Quentin	14.1	11.8	1.6
5	Lance Berkman	14.4	11.6	1.9	5	Nick Swisher	18.9	16.5	1.5


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Clayton Kershaw	15.3	10.4	5.1	1	Justin Verlander	16.6	9.7	7.2
2	Roy Halladay	14.0	9.6	4.6	2	Roy Halladay	15.0	8.6	6.7
3	Jered Weaver	14.6	10.5	4.3	3	Jered Weaver	15.5	9.6	6.1
4	Justin Verlander	15.1	11.2	4.1	4	Clayton Kershaw	15.7	10.0	5.9
5	Cliff P. Lee	14.9	11.4	3.7	5	Dan Haren	15.1	9.7	5.6
6	Dan Haren	14.2	10.7	3.7	6	Cliff P. Lee	15.8	10.4	5.6
7	Cole Hamels	13.2	10.2	3.1	7	Ian Kennedy	15.4	10.6	5.1
8	Doug Fister	12.5	9.6	3.0	8	Cole Hamels	13.8	9.6	4.3
9	Matt Cain	12.7	9.9	3.0	9	C.C. Sabathia	15.0	10.9	4.3
10	Tim Hudson	13.0	10.4	2.8	10	James Shields	16.1	12.3	4.0


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Craig Kimbrel	7.0	4.1	2.6	1	Jose Valverde	7.9	3.7	3.9
2	J.J. Putz	5.9	3.6	2.1	2	J.J. Putz	6.5	2.9	3.5
3	Jonny Venters	6.9	4.6	2.1	3	John Axford	7.5	3.8	3.4
4	Mariano Rivera	5.6	3.4	2.0	4	Drew Storen	7.6	4.0	3.3
5	Eric O'Flaherty	5.2	3.2	1.8	5	Mariano Rivera	6.2	2.8	3.3
6	Jonathan Papelbon	4.9	3.0	1.8	6	Tyler Clippard	7.1	3.6	3.2
7	Sean Marshall	5.2	3.3	1.7	7	Craig Kimbrel	7.3	3.9	3.2
8	John Axford	6.6	4.7	1.7	8	David Robertson	5.9	2.7	3.0
9	J. Mike Adams	4.9	3.2	1.5	9	Jonny Venters	7.3	4.2	2.9
10	David Robertson	5.1	3.5	1.5	10	Jonathan Papelbon	5.5	2.4	2.9


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	David Ortiz	14.0	11.0	2.3	1	Victor Martinez	12.8	9.0	3.3
2	Victor Martinez	12.0	9.8	1.6	2	David Ortiz	14.0	11.0	2.4
3	Johnny Damon	13.7	11.9	1.0	3	Travis Hafner	9.4	7.0	1.9

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.


Pitcher Offense
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Daniel Hudson	1.5	1.7	0.6	1	Daniel Hudson	1.7	1.6	0.9
2	Cliff P. Lee	1.3	1.6	0.6	2	Yovani Gallardo	1.5	1.3	0.8
3	Yovani Gallardo	1.3	1.5	0.5	3	Cliff P. Lee	1.4	1.5	0.7


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Matt Downs	1.8	1.0	0.9	1	Casey McGehee	1.2	0.4	0.9
2	Casey McGehee	1.0	0.5	0.6	2	Matt Downs	1.7	1.1	0.8
3	Scott Sizemore	0.5	0.1	0.5	3	Greg Dobbs	1.2	0.6	0.7


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Eugenio Velez	0.4	0.1	0.3	1	Emmanuel Burriss	0.3	0.1	0.3
2	Tyler Greene	0.2	0.0	0.2	2	Tyler Greene	0.3	0.0	0.2
3	Eric Young Jr.	0.2	0.0	0.2	3	Eugenio Velez	0.3	0.1	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 2011

NL MVP Race: Ryan Braun vs. Matt Kemp

The 2011 NL MVP race was an interesting two-man battle. Matt Kemp flirted with the Triple Crown, finishing with Triple Crown stats of .324/39/126. The latter two led the NL but he finished third in batting average. For that, Kemp received 10 first-place MVP votes. One of the two players who finished ahead of Kemp in batting average also finished ahead of him in MVP voting. Ryan Braun batted .332/.397/.597 (Kemp batted .324/.399/.586) with 33 home runs, 111 RBI, and 109 runs scored (Kemp scored 115) and received 20 first-place MVP votes beating Kemp in voting 388 - 332.

Going back to the first two tables of this article, Kemp beat Braun in three of the four statistics shown there - pWOPA, pWORL, and eWORL - but by only 0.3 wins or less, while Braun led Kemp (by a mere 0.1 wins) in eWOPA.

This is, I think, a great example of the strength of Baseball Player won-lost records. They're not a single number and using Player won-lost records to fill out an MVP (or Hall-of-Fame or Cy Young) ballot is not a simple matter of picking the top guy and being done. Rather, Baseball Player won-lost records provide a set of numbers and it's perfectly reasonable for different people to weight those numbers differently. Given the numbers here, I would have probably voted for Matt Kemp as the NL MVP in 2011. But I certainly wouldn't call a vote for Ryan Braun (or Clayton Kershaw) wrong.

The next two tables give a closer look at the comparison between Braun and Kemp. The first table shows total Player won-lost records, in and out of context. The second table looks at how they compared in the three key non-pitching factors: batting, baserunning, and fielding. The numbers in the second table are context-neutral (eWins).

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ryan Braun	150	24.3	16.7	0.593	7.2	9.2	23.9	17.2	0.581	6.3	8.3
Matt Kemp	161	26.7	18.7	0.588	7.3	9.5	26.1	19.3	0.575	6.3	8.5

	Batting		Baserunning		Fielding		Positional
	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	Average	Repl. Level
Ryan Braun	16.6	10.7	1.6	1.1	5.4	5.6	0.505	0.456
Matt Kemp	19.0	12.4	1.6	1.7	5.4	5.3	0.508	0.460

Four Aces

Featured prominently in the four tables above are four starting pitchers. Trying to choose among them for 2011 is almost a fool's errand: do you prefer pWins or eWins? WOPA or WORL? Bonus for postseason performance?

The next table compares these four aces' 2011 seasons in detail. Numbers shown here include postseason games as well.

Player	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Four Aces: Player Won-Lost Records (including postseason)
Roy Halladay	PHI	34	34	16.4	11.3	0.592	6.4	7.9	16.0	11.6	0.580	6.4	7.4
Cliff P. Lee	PHI	32	36	17.5	12.5	0.583	6.1	7.7	17.1	13.0	0.567	6.1	6.9
Clayton Kershaw	LAN	23	33	16.8	11.5	0.593	6.3	7.9	16.9	11.5	0.596	6.3	8.3
Justin Verlander	DET	28	38	18.1	10.9	0.625	7.5	9.3	16.9	12.0	0.584	7.5	6.9

Joey Bats!

The best player - by a lot - in eWins over either positional average or replacement level in 2011 was Jose "Joey Bats" Bautista.

Bautista's 2011 season confirmed that his excellent 2010 season was not a one-season fluke and cemented Bautista as one of the most remarkable turnaround stories in major-league history. Bautista's 2011 season was one of the 75 best batting seasons for which I have calculated Player won-lost records as measured by wins over (non-pitcher) average. But Joey Bats was more than just a bat: Bautista also led the major-leagues in net fielding wins in right field (in only 116 games).

The next table lays out Jose Bautista's career as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
+– 2004		23	64	2.0	2.7	-0.4	-0.7
	BAL		16	0.2	0.4	-0.2	-0.2
	KCA		13	0.3	0.8	-0.4	-0.4
	PIT		23	1.3	1.2	0.3	0.1
	TBA		12	0.2	0.4	-0.2	-0.2
2005	PIT	24	11	0.6	0.8	-0.2	-0.3
2006	PIT	25	117	12.4	13.0	0.1	-1.1
2007	PIT	26	142	16.6	16.0	1.4	-0.1
+– 2008		27	128	10.3	11.7	-0.8	-1.8
	PIT		107	9.0	9.6	-0.0	-0.9
	TOR		21	1.3	2.2	-0.8	-0.9
2009	TOR	28	113	10.6	10.7	0.7	-0.3
2010	TOR	29	161	23.1	17.7	6.8	4.9
2011	TOR	30	149	23.3	16.0	8.6	6.7
2012	TOR	31	92	13.4	9.8	4.3	3.2
2013	TOR	32	118	15.9	13.1	3.7	2.2
2014	TOR	33	155	22.3	17.5	6.2	4.3
2015	TOR	34	153	21.0	14.9	7.2	5.4
2016	TOR	35	116	14.5	13.3	2.3	0.9
2017	TOR	36	157	17.5	20.0	-1.4	-3.1
+– 2018		37	122	9.4	10.5	-0.6	-1.6
	ATL		12	0.7	0.9	-0.2	-0.2
	NYN		83	7.3	8.1	-0.5	-1.2
	PHI		27	1.4	1.5	0.0	-0.1
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,798	213.0	187.9	37.9	18.8
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			20	3.0	2.6	0.6	0.4
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,818	216.0	190.4	38.6	19.2

Jose Bautista's career was so interesting that I wrote a separate article about it here.

And Finally, Farewell to a Pair of Hall of Famers

Two players who played their final game in 2011 have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as I write this (in 2019). Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez was elected in his first year of eligibility (2017) and Vladimir Guerrero was elected in his second year of eligibility (2018). This article concludes, then, with a comparison of the career records of Pudge and Vlad, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Ivan Rodriguez					Vladimir Guerrero Sr.
1991	88	5.7	7.2	-0.9	-0.3
1992	123	9.4	10.5	-0.4	0.5
1993	137	12.2	12.5	0.3	1.5
1994	99	9.1	8.5	1.2	2.1
1995	130	12.3	13.1	-0.0	1.2
1996	153	15.9	14.6	2.3	3.7	9	0.6	1.0	-0.5	-0.4
1997	150	15.1	13.3	2.4	3.8	90	10.9	12.0	-2.1	-1.0
1998	145	15.6	13.4	3.2	4.7	159	23.2	19.9	1.4	3.6
1999	144	17.0	14.8	3.4	4.9	160	24.7	21.3	1.5	3.7
2000	91	9.6	8.2	1.9	2.7	154	24.3	20.6	2.5	4.6
2001	111	10.5	9.8	1.7	2.8	159	25.3	22.3	0.9	3.4
2002	108	9.3	9.6	0.6	1.6	161	26.3	18.2	6.6	8.9
2003	144	15.8	13.0	3.4	4.9	112	17.3	13.4	2.8	4.3
2004	135	12.5	13.4	0.2	1.5	156	22.8	17.9	4.4	6.5
2005	129	12.1	12.6	0.5	1.6	141	20.6	14.7	5.3	6.9
2006	136	12.5	12.5	0.8	1.9	156	21.5	18.9	2.0	3.9
2007	129	10.4	11.7	-0.3	0.7	150	22.6	15.6	6.3	8.1
2008	115	7.2	9.3	-1.5	-0.7	143	18.7	14.7	3.3	5.0
2009	121	9.0	10.3	-0.7	0.2	100	8.4	8.7	-0.6	0.5
2010	111	8.9	11.1	-1.8	-0.8	152	16.5	13.4	2.7	4.6
2011	44	3.6	4.4	-0.6	-0.2	145	10.1	12.5	-3.1	-1.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,543	233.5	233.6	15.8	38.5	2,147	293.8	245.0	33.4	61.2

Article last updated: September 17, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2011 season. Positional averages for starting pitching and relief pitching are calculated using single-year data for all starting pitchers and all relief pitchers.

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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