Rocky Colavito

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Rocky Colavito

Rocky Colavito as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records

In an earlier article, I looked at players who have been elected to the Hall of Fame and Hall of Merit as viewed using Player won-lost records. At the end of that article, I put together a table of the best players in neither the Hall of Fame nor the Hall of Merit, as measured by Player won-lost records. That table is repeated here.

Player	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Tommy John	761	278.0	247.9	23.6	47.3	278.3	259.9	18.0	42.1
Jim Kaat	974	271.2	255.9	17.5	41.2	272.6	268.7	12.0	36.4
Luis Tiant	573	225.8	195.0	20.9	40.2	210.1	193.0	13.8	32.3
Vern Stephens	1,719	247.0	207.6	21.4	39.5	231.8	200.5	17.2	34.5
Bert Campaneris	2,305	288.4	281.4	15.2	38.1	290.7	284.7	14.8	37.8
Amos Otis	1,991	262.6	222.8	16.3	35.5	256.5	227.0	11.1	30.2
Orel Hershiser	516	195.1	176.6	17.7	35.4	193.2	178.0	16.1	33.8
Jose Canseco	1,886	224.7	186.7	14.3	33.7	219.7	185.8	12.3	31.5
Toby Harrah	2,145	254.1	233.5	14.7	33.6	257.7	229.3	18.6	37.4
Larry Jackson	583	205.6	190.9	15.4	32.9	202.7	188.8	14.9	32.2
Ron Cey	2,070	255.8	217.4	14.5	32.8	246.2	212.5	12.3	30.0
Jim Fregosi	1,896	229.3	210.8	13.9	31.8	225.4	207.4	13.6	31.2
Curt Simmons	593	207.4	197.5	13.0	31.2	209.5	198.4	13.6	32.0
Jerry Koosman	612	229.2	223.3	10.7	30.6	228.7	222.9	10.6	30.5
Brian Downing	2,341	235.6	211.1	10.3	30.3	237.5	208.5	12.6	32.6

This article takes a look at one of those players, whose peak (1958 - 1962) coincides with a time period about which I have written several recent articles: Rocky Colavito.

The next table below presents 's career as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1955	CLE	1955	4	0.4	0.3	0.555	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.2	0.643	0.1	0.1
1956	CLE	1956	101	12.6	10.7	0.542	0.6	1.5	11.7	9.4	0.554	0.8	1.6
1957	CLE	1957	134	16.8	14.8	0.532	0.6	1.9	17.9	14.7	0.549	1.2	2.5
1958	CLE	1958	143	20.9	15.3	0.579	2.1	3.5	21.6	15.2	0.587	2.5	3.9
1959	CLE	1959	154	23.5	17.5	0.573	2.0	3.6	21.3	17.5	0.549	0.9	2.5
1960	DET	1960	145	18.9	19.7	0.489	-1.0	0.5	19.2	18.2	0.513	-0.1	1.4
1961	DET	1961	163	26.6	18.3	0.593	3.5	5.5	25.9	17.4	0.598	3.5	5.5
1962	DET	1962	161	25.5	19.2	0.571	2.1	3.8	24.3	18.4	0.569	2.0	3.6
1963	DET	1963	160	23.6	21.0	0.530	0.4	2.1	23.1	19.8	0.538	0.7	2.3
1964	KC1	1964	160	22.1	20.1	0.524	0.0	1.7	22.3	19.2	0.538	0.6	2.2
1965	CLE	1965	162	23.9	19.7	0.549	1.2	2.9	22.7	18.7	0.548	1.1	2.7
1966	CLE	1966	151	17.9	18.2	0.495	-1.0	0.4	19.5	17.7	0.525	0.1	1.5
+– 1967		1967	123	12.5	12.2	0.506	-0.4	0.7	11.9	11.6	0.506	-0.4	0.6
	CHA		60	6.9	5.9	0.540	0.2	0.8	5.9	6.0	0.495	-0.3	0.2
	CLE		63	5.6	6.3	0.468	-0.6	-0.1	6.1	5.7	0.518	-0.0	0.5
+– 1968		1968	79	7.3	7.2	0.505	-0.2	0.4	6.8	6.7	0.506	-0.2	0.4
	LAN		40	3.2	4.3	0.428	-0.7	-0.4	3.3	4.0	0.454	-0.5	-0.2
	NYA		39	4.1	2.9	0.588	0.5	0.8	3.5	2.7	0.569	0.3	0.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,840	252.6	214.1	0.541	9.8	28.5	248.7	204.7	0.548	12.8	31.0
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			0	0.0	0.0			0.0	0.0	0.0			0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,840	252.6	214.1	0.541		28.5	248.7	204.7	0.548		31.0

For people interested in a pretty good biography of Rocky Colavito, a biography of Colavito is availabe on the SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) website as part of their BioProject. Here are some basic biographical facts about Rocky Colavito. In addition to the SABR Bio, some of this information also came from Baseball-Reference and Wikipedia.

Rocky Colavito grew up in the Bronx as a fan of the New York Yankees and Joe DiMaggio

Rocky Colavito was good friends with Herb Score with whom he was a minor league teammate starting in class A ball in 1953.

After tying for the American League lead in home runs in 1959, Rocky Colavito was famously traded for American League batting champion Harvey Kuenn

Rocky Colavito went into the stands to fight a fan who was hassling his father in a 1960 game at Yankee Stadium

The Colavito-Kuenn trade is fairly famous. The two of them are compared in the next table via Player won-lost records. The season before the trade, 1959, is bolded, and their records after the trade are compared in the final row of the table.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Rocky Colavito						Harvey Kuenn
1952							19	2.3	2.7	0.466	-0.1	0.1
1953							155	19.1	21.1	0.476	-0.6	1.1
1954							155	20.9	22.6	0.480	-0.4	1.4
1955	4	0.4	0.3	0.555	0.0	0.1	145	18.0	19.1	0.486	-0.1	1.4
1956	101	12.6	10.7	0.542	0.6	1.5	146	20.1	18.2	0.525	1.5	3.1
1957	134	16.8	14.8	0.532	0.6	1.9	151	18.6	19.8	0.485	-0.3	1.3
1958	143	20.9	15.3	0.579	2.1	3.5	139	17.2	17.3	0.499	-0.7	0.7
1959	154	23.5	17.5	0.573	2.0	3.6	139	19.8	16.8	0.541	0.7	2.1
1960	145	18.9	19.7	0.489	-1.0	0.5	126	15.5	14.7	0.512	-0.1	1.1
1961	163	26.6	18.3	0.593	3.5	5.5	131	14.9	15.1	0.495	-0.6	0.8
1962	161	25.5	19.2	0.571	2.1	3.8	130	15.5	14.1	0.524	0.1	1.3
1963	160	23.6	21.0	0.530	0.4	2.1	120	11.0	11.4	0.491	-0.5	0.4
1964	160	22.1	20.1	0.524	0.0	1.7	111	9.4	8.6	0.522	-0.0	0.7
1965	162	23.9	19.7	0.549	1.2	2.9	77	4.5	5.5	0.446	-0.7	-0.3
1966	151	17.9	18.2	0.495	-1.0	0.4	87	4.2	5.4	0.441	-0.6	-0.2
1967	123	12.5	12.2	0.506	-0.4	0.7
1968	79	7.3	7.2	0.505	-0.2	0.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,840	252.6	214.1	0.541	9.8	28.5	1,831	211.0	212.4	0.498	-2.4	14.9
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
Post-Trade	1,304	178.4	155.5	0.534	4.5	17.9	782	74.9	74.8	0.500	-2.4	3.8

Players most Similar to Rocky Colavito according to Player Won-Lost Records

The ten players most similar to Rocky Colavito according to Player won-lost records are shown in the next table.

Player	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Batting	Baserunning	Fielding
		Most Similar Players to in Value
						Wins over Baseline
Rocky Colavito	1840	252.6	214.1	9.8	28.5	16.3	-1.2	5.4
Ron Cey	2070	255.8	217.4	14.5	32.8	13.2	-1.8	4.9
Fred Lynn	1967	244.2	220.5	9.5	27.5	15.0	-0.1	3.8
Tim Salmon	1668	203.1	181.8	6.2	23.1	13.7	-0.6	4.4
Ron Santo	2243	293.6	258.8	12.7	35.2	16.3	-1.8	6.0
Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	1668	202.6	178.3	9.0	23.5	12.1	-0.3	4.9
George Foster	1965	263.8	223.2	12.0	30.7	13.7	0.1	4.8
Sammy Sosa	2349	313.8	281.4	5.9	29.9	18.9	-1.4	5.8
Augie Galan	1604	202.1	170.5	10.8	26.2	11.6	-0.5	4.4
Jim Rice	2089	281.7	249.4	11.0	33.3	14.1	-0.5	2.6
Bob Elliott	1976	260.8	230.7	9.6	29.3	13.4	-0.3	2.4

There are two Hall-of-Famers on the list and another player in the Hall of Merit. There are also two players who are not eligible for either yet but seem like good bets to make at least the Hall of Merit, and one player who would probably be in the Hall of Fame (if not already, then very soon) if the voters were voting purely on his statistical record. Overall, that's (at least) six players with at least somewhat reasonable statistical Hall-of-Fame cases. That's pretty good.

Or, put it this way: what if a player had the same basic career as Sammy Sosa minus the crappy seasons at the beginning and end of his career and also minus the steroid stink? Should that guy be a serious Hall-of-Fame candidate? I would think so.

The next table shows Rocky Colavito's career Player won-lost record divided by three of the four major factors: batting, baserunning, and fielding (Colavito also picked up a handful of pitching player decisions thanks to 5.2 innings pitched in his career).

eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Batting			Baserunning			Fielding
168.1	129.7	16.3	10.0	12.1	-1.2	69.9	64.5	2.7

Rocky Colavito excelled in two things: batting and fielding.

Rocky Colavito's Batting

Overall, Rocky Colavito's 16.3 career batting wins over non-pitcher average rank 73^rd among players for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records. Player won-lost records are calculated in nine Components. Batting decisions are shared within seven of these components: 3: Balls not in Play, 4: Balls in Play, 5: Hits vs. Outs on Balls in Play, 6: Singles vs. Doubles vs. Triples, 7: Double Plays, 8: Baserunner Outs, and 9: Baserunner Advancements.

The next table decomposes Rocky Colavito's batting Player won-lost records by component.

eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses
Batting Won-Lost Records by Component
Component 3		Component 4		Component 5		Component 6		Component 7		Component 8		Component 9
30.2	18.9	83.5	49.9	42.4	47.9	4.9	4.9	1.5	2.7	1.3	1.4	4.4	3.9

In a separate article, I compared Batting to Baserunning and noted that several components of what I (and most baseball people) call "batting" include a "baserunning" component, including Components 5 - e.g., the ability to beat out infield hits - 6 - e.g., the ability to leg out doubles and triples - and 7 - the ability to beat out double-play ground balls. In that article, I speculate that Component 5 can perhaps be thought of as 70% batting and 30% baserunning, Component 6 can perhaps best be thought as 50% batting and 50% baserunning, and Component 7 can perhaps best be viewed as baserunning instead of batting.

Looking at the above table, you can see this in Rocky Colavito's record. He was a great pure hitter - Components 3 and 4 - but much more average at anything related to baserunning (at which he was below average for his career).

Considering only Components 3 and 4 - which can be thought of as the basic elements of "pure batting", pitch selection and the ability to hit the ball and hit it hard - Rocky Colavito earned 18.7 career Component 3 and 4 wins over non-pitcher average, which ranks 43^rd among all players for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

Obviously, the abilities to beat out infield hits and double-play grounders and stretch doubles into triples are real abilities with real value (and abilities in which Colavito was relatively lacking), but one could argue, based on Player won-lost records, that Rocky Colavito was perhaps one of the 50 best pure hitters of the past 70 years.

In terms of just batting, Rocky Colavito is comparable, for example, to Greg Luzinski, who finished 2nd in MVP voting twice and top-10 in MVP voting two other times during his 4-year peak (1975 - 78).

	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
	Total Batting			Components 3 & 4
Rocky Colavito	168.1	129.7	16.3	113.7	68.8	20.7
Greg Luzinski	157.4	124.0	14.8	100.5	72.4	13.0

Luzinski, though, was a famously bad outfielder who became a full-time DH at the age of 30. Rocky Colavito, on the other hand, was most famous defensively for his rocket arm. I look at Rocky Colavito's fielding next.

Rocky Colavito's Fielding

The next table shows the top 25 players in career net fielding wins (Wins minus Losses) among corner outfielders for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

Player	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	Net Wins
	Career Net Fielding Wins, Corner Outfielders (Context-Neutral, Teammate-Adjusted)
Ichiro Suzuki	82.4	72.0	0.534	10.4
Mel Ott	86.5	76.3	0.531	10.1
Carl Furillo	61.4	51.3	0.544	10.0
Jesse Barfield	58.6	48.9	0.545	9.7
Al Kaline	77.9	68.5	0.532	9.5
Roberto Clemente	104.5	95.9	0.521	8.6
Joe Rudi	51.8	43.2	0.545	8.5
Barry Bonds	109.4	101.4	0.519	8.0
Tony Oliva	47.4	40.5	0.540	7.0
Brian Jordan	48.6	41.7	0.538	6.8
Geoff Jenkins	53.2	46.7	0.533	6.6
Reggie L. Sanders	56.2	49.7	0.531	6.5
Roger Maris	43.3	37.0	0.539	6.3
Ellis Valentine	35.9	29.6	0.548	6.3
Alexis Rios	51.4	45.6	0.530	5.8
Rickey Henderson	97.9	92.2	0.515	5.8
Johnny Callison	76.1	70.4	0.520	5.7
Willie Wilson	34.5	28.8	0.545	5.7
Jo-Jo Moore	46.4	40.8	0.532	5.6
Al Simmons	52.7	47.2	0.528	5.5
Rocky Colavito	69.8	64.3	0.520	5.5
Indian Bob Johnson	76.7	71.3	0.518	5.4
B.J. Surhoff	38.0	32.8	0.536	5.1
Tony Armas Sr.	31.4	26.6	0.542	4.8
Alex Gordon	44.8	40.1	0.528	4.7

Fielding decisions by outfielders are accumulated within 4 of the 9 components of Player won-lost records: 5 - Hits vs. Outs on Balls in Play, 6 - Singles vs. Doubles vs. Triples on Hits in Play, 8 - Baserunner Outs, and 9 - Baserunner Advancements. The next table decomposes Rocky Colavito's fielding record (as an outfielder) by component.

eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses
Fielding Won-Lost Records by Component
Component 5		Component 6		Component 8		Component 9
34.9	32.7	11.3	9.8	7.9	7.2	15.6	14.6

To some extent, Rocky Colavito's excellence as a fielder is the exact opposite of his excellence as a hitter. As a hitter, Colavito was excellent at the pure act of hitting but gave back some of that value via some of the more minor aspects of batting (and baserunning, in general).

In contrast, Rocky Colavito's fielding excellence was much more well-balanced. The purest component of fielding - and the primary one measured by most defensive systems - is Component 5, the ability to turn balls in play into outs (instead of hits). Not only was Rocky Colavito very good at this aspect of fielding, but but his performance in Components 6, 8, and 9, i.e., his ability to limit extra-base hits, control baserunner advancement, and throw out baserunners who were reckless enough to test his arm, were all well above average as well.

The next two tables show the top 25 corner outfielders in career net fielding wins in Component 5 (first table) and Components 6, 8, and 9 (second table).

Player	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	Net Wins
	Career Net Fielding Wins, Corner Outfielders (Component 5)
Ichiro Suzuki	47.8	38.9	0.551	8.9
Carl Furillo	32.0	23.4	0.577	8.5
Roy White	38.3	31.4	0.549	6.9
Brian Jordan	27.4	21.9	0.556	5.5
Willie Wilson	20.0	14.6	0.578	5.4
Barry Bonds	58.5	53.5	0.523	5.1
Mel Ott	43.4	38.4	0.531	5.0
Rickey Henderson	53.2	48.5	0.523	4.7
Joe Rudi	27.1	22.5	0.546	4.6
Geoff Jenkins	28.8	24.3	0.543	4.6
Tony Oliva	24.8	20.3	0.550	4.5
Al Kaline	39.6	35.2	0.530	4.5
Carl Crawford	36.3	31.8	0.533	4.5
Roger Maris	23.8	19.4	0.551	4.4
Austin Kearns	23.5	19.5	0.547	4.0
Paul Waner	50.1	46.1	0.520	3.9
Jay Bruce	31.8	28.0	0.532	3.8
Johnny Callison	38.8	35.0	0.526	3.8
Reggie L. Sanders	30.9	27.2	0.533	3.8
Johnny Damon	18.2	14.6	0.555	3.6
Al Simmons	28.0	24.4	0.534	3.6
Sammy Sosa	45.7	42.1	0.520	3.6
Jason Heyward	23.4	20.0	0.540	3.4
Alexis Rios	28.8	25.4	0.531	3.4
Paul O'Neill	37.5	34.2	0.523	3.2

Player	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	Net Wins
	Career Net Fielding Wins, Corner Outfielders (Components 6, 8, and 9)
Roberto Clemente	55.8	48.2	0.537	7.7
Jesse Barfield	29.0	22.5	0.563	6.5
Ellis Valentine	20.2	14.6	0.581	5.6
Mel Ott	43.1	38.0	0.532	5.1
Al Kaline	38.3	33.3	0.535	5.0
Indian Bob Johnson	40.7	35.8	0.532	4.9
Raul Mondesi Sr.	27.7	23.1	0.545	4.6
Dwight Evans	43.2	38.9	0.526	4.3
Jeff Francoeur	30.7	26.5	0.537	4.2
Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	20.7	16.6	0.555	4.1
Joe Rudi	24.7	20.8	0.543	3.9
Jo-Jo Moore	24.4	20.6	0.543	3.8
Roy Cullenbine	22.4	19.1	0.540	3.3
Rocky Colavito	34.8	31.6	0.524	3.2
B.J. Surhoff	17.6	14.5	0.548	3.1
Juan Rivera	14.7	11.7	0.557	3.0
Barry Bonds	50.9	48.0	0.515	2.9
Alex Gordon	20.9	18.0	0.537	2.9
Carl Yastrzemski	47.7	45.0	0.515	2.8
Bob Kennedy	16.0	13.2	0.548	2.8
Tommy Henrich	18.8	16.0	0.540	2.8
Willie Stargell	28.8	26.0	0.525	2.8
Reggie L. Sanders	25.3	22.5	0.528	2.7
Tony Armas Sr.	15.6	12.9	0.547	2.7
Bobby Abreu	38.2	35.6	0.518	2.6

And that's Rocky Colavito, as viewed through Player won-lost records: excellent pure hitter, good basic fielder who rises to excellent thanks to an exceptional throwing arm. Put it together and Rocky Colavito was an exceptionally valuable player who, in my opinion, has a legitimate Hall-of-Fame and/or Hall-of-Merit case.

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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