2012 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

2012 Season

The 2012 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

This article takes a look at the 2012 season as measured by Player won-lost records.

The Best of 2012

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	Buster Posey	19.3	12.6	6.6	8.2	1	Mike Trout	22.6	15.6	6.5	8.4
2	Yoenis Cespedes	19.8	12.9	6.6	8.3	2	Robinson Cano	23.5	17.8	6.3	8.4
3	Mike Trout	22.6	15.6	6.5	8.4	3	Yoenis Cespedes	19.8	12.9	6.6	8.3
4	Robinson Cano	23.5	17.8	6.3	8.4	4	Buster Posey	19.3	12.6	6.6	8.2
5	Adrian Beltre	20.6	14.2	6.2	8.0	5	Adrian Beltre	20.6	14.2	6.2	8.0
6	Dan Uggla	21.4	16.3	5.3	7.2	6	Dan Uggla	21.4	16.3	5.3	7.2
7	Aramis Ramirez	21.0	15.0	5.3	7.1	7	Adam Jones	23.8	18.3	5.0	7.1
8	Adam Jones	23.8	18.3	5.0	7.1	8	Aramis Ramirez	21.0	15.0	5.3	7.1
9	Kris Medlen	8.8	4.1	5.0	5.9	9	Chase Headley	22.4	16.7	5.0	6.9
10	Chase Headley	22.4	16.7	5.0	6.9	10	Justin Verlander	16.3	11.9	4.8	6.6

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	Mike Trout	22.1	16.2	5.5	7.4	1	Ryan J. Braun	23.1	16.7	5.5	7.5
2	Ryan J. Braun	23.1	16.7	5.5	7.5	2	Mike Trout	22.1	16.2	5.5	7.4
3	Andrew McCutchen	23.3	17.1	5.3	7.3	3	Andrew McCutchen	23.3	17.1	5.3	7.3
4	Clayton Kershaw	15.0	11.1	5.2	6.7	4	Robinson Cano	22.8	18.5	5.1	7.1
5	Robinson Cano	22.8	18.5	5.1	7.1	5	Chase Headley	22.4	16.7	5.0	6.9
6	Chase Headley	22.4	16.7	5.0	6.9	6	Clayton Kershaw	15.0	11.1	5.2	6.7
7	Edwin Encarnacion	17.7	12.4	4.7	6.5	7	Edwin Encarnacion	17.7	12.4	4.7	6.5
8	Justin Verlander	16.1	12.1	4.6	6.4	8	Justin Verlander	16.1	12.1	4.6	6.4
9	Buster Posey	18.1	13.7	4.4	6.0	9	Adrian Beltre	19.7	15.1	4.3	6.1
10	Adrian Beltre	19.7	15.1	4.3	6.1	10	Buster Posey	18.1	13.7	4.4	6.0

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2012 at the end of this article.

2012 Postseason

The 2012 postseason began with the first-ever wild-card play-in games, which were highlighted by a disputed invocation of the infield fly rule. It ended with the San Francisco Giants winning their second World Series in three years.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2012 Postseason: Total

Ryan Vogelsong	SFN	2.1	0.9	1.5
Gregor Blanco	SFN	2.6	1.2	1.4
Marco Scutaro	COL	2.8	1.7	1.3
Justin Verlander	DET	2.2	1.4	1.1
C.C. Sabathia	NYA	2.1	1.4	0.9
Barry Zito	SFN	1.6	0.9	0.9
Brandon Crawford	SFN	2.2	1.6	0.9
Sergio Romo	SFN	0.8	0.1	0.8
Raul Ibanez	NYA	1.3	0.6	0.8
Pablo Sandoval	SFN	2.5	1.9	0.7

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2012 World Series

Gregor Blanco	SFN	1.0	0.3	0.7
Pablo Sandoval	SFN	1.0	0.4	0.6
Marco Scutaro	COL	0.7	0.3	0.4
Sergio Romo	SFN	0.3	0.0	0.3
Ryan Vogelsong	SFN	0.6	0.3	0.3

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2012 Postseason: League Championship Series

Marco Scutaro	COL	1.6	0.8	0.9
Ryan Vogelsong	SFN	1.2	0.5	0.7
Delmon Young	DET	1.0	0.3	0.7
Matt Carpenter	SLN	0.8	0.1	0.7
Miguel Cabrera	DET	0.8	0.3	0.5

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2012 Postseason: Division Series

C.C. Sabathia	NYA	1.7	0.5	1.2
Justin Verlander	DET	1.3	0.4	0.9
Raul Ibanez	NYA	0.9	0.1	0.8
Pete Kozma	SLN	1.0	0.6	0.4
Chris Carpenter (1997)	SLN	0.7	0.3	0.4

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2012 Postseason: Wild Card Round

Joe Saunders	ARI	0.5	0.2	0.4
Matt Holliday	SLN	0.4	0.0	0.3
Nate McLouth	BAL	0.3	0.1	0.3

Best of 2012 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 2012 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	Edwin Encarnacion	15.5	10.5	4.9	1	Buster Posey	16.2	9.7	6.2
2	Mike Trout	15.4	10.6	4.7	2	Josh Willingham	16.6	11.0	5.5
3	Andrew McCutchen	15.8	10.8	4.7	3	Adrian Beltre	15.9	10.3	5.5
4	Ryan J. Braun	15.3	10.2	4.7	4	Prince Fielder	17.1	11.6	5.4
5	Miguel Cabrera	16.9	12.4	4.4	5	Yoenis Cespedes	13.4	8.0	5.3
6	Prince Fielder	16.6	12.1	4.3	6	Mike Trout	15.6	10.4	5.1
7	Chase Headley	15.6	11.0	4.3	7	Joey Votto	11.7	6.4	5.1
8	Buster Posey	15.2	10.7	4.1	8	Aramis Ramirez	16.2	11.0	4.9
9	Joey Votto	11.2	6.9	4.1	9	Adam LaRoche	16.3	11.1	4.9
10	Josh Willingham	15.7	11.9	3.7	10	Edwin Encarnacion	15.4	10.7	4.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Tony Campana	1.3	0.4	0.9	1	Mike Trout	2.7	1.2	1.5
2	Coco Crisp	1.8	0.9	0.9	2	Tony Campana	1.4	0.3	1.1
3	Desmond Jennings	1.3	0.6	0.8	3	Jimmy Rollins	2.0	0.9	1.1
4	Mike Trout	2.4	1.6	0.8	4	Desmond Jennings	1.5	0.5	1.0
5	Michael Bourn	2.2	1.4	0.7	5	Ryan Zimmerman	1.5	0.7	0.8
6	Everth Cabrera	1.5	0.9	0.6	6	Carlos Gomez	1.4	0.5	0.8
7	Gregor Blanco	1.7	1.0	0.6	7	Michael Bourn	2.2	1.4	0.8
8	Shane Victorino	1.6	1.0	0.6	8	Coco Crisp	1.7	1.0	0.7
9	Ben Revere	1.7	1.1	0.6	9	Will Venable	1.4	0.7	0.7
10	Ryan Zimmerman	1.4	0.8	0.6	10	Quintin Berry	1.1	0.5	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Fernando Rodney	6.9	3.5	3.5	1	Jim R. Johnson	7.3	2.4	4.9
2	Clayton Kershaw	13.2	9.8	3.4	2	Craig Kimbrel	6.9	2.4	4.5
3	Justin Verlander	15.4	12.1	3.2	3	Kris Medlen	8.0	3.6	4.4
4	Kris Medlen	7.3	4.3	3.0	4	Justin Verlander	15.9	11.6	4.3
5	David Price	12.7	9.7	3.0	5	Clayton Kershaw	13.5	9.5	4.0
6	Craig Kimbrel	6.0	3.3	2.7	6	Fernando Rodney	7.2	3.2	3.9
7	Aroldis Chapman	6.8	4.2	2.5	7	Gio Gonzalez	12.3	8.5	3.8
8	Gio Gonzalez	11.7	9.1	2.5	8	David Price	13.0	9.4	3.6
9	Cliff P. Lee	11.4	8.9	2.5	9	Rafael Soriano	7.1	3.7	3.5
10	Johnny Cueto	13.4	11.0	2.3	10	Cole Hamels	12.8	9.4	3.5

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Lucas Harrell	0.5	0.1	0.4	1	Johnny Cueto	0.6	0.2	0.5
2	Mark Buehrle	0.7	0.3	0.4	2	Mark Buehrle	0.7	0.3	0.4
3	Johnny Cueto	0.6	0.2	0.4	3	Lucas Harrell	0.5	0.2	0.3
4	Cliff P. Lee	0.5	0.3	0.3	4	Fernando Rodney	0.4	0.1	0.3
5	Joe M. Smith	0.3	0.1	0.3	5	Kris Medlen	0.3	0.0	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Yadier Molina	1.9	1.3	0.5	1	Ryan Hanigan	1.9	0.8	1.1
2	Salvador Perez	1.1	0.6	0.5	2	Salvador Perez	1.2	0.6	0.6
3	Kurt Suzuki	1.6	1.2	0.4	3	Carlos Ruiz	1.6	1.1	0.5
4	Ryan Hanigan	1.5	1.2	0.4	4	Yadier Molina	1.8	1.4	0.5
5	Carlos Ruiz	1.5	1.2	0.3	5	Yasmani Grandal	1.2	0.8	0.5


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Mark Teixeira	2.5	1.9	0.6	1	Mark Teixeira	2.7	1.8	0.9
2	Adrian Gonzalez	2.7	2.1	0.6	2	Adam LaRoche	3.0	2.2	0.8
3	Carlos Lee	2.4	1.9	0.5	3	Casey Kotchman	2.9	2.1	0.8
4	Yonder Alonso	2.6	2.2	0.4	4	Mitch Moreland	2.0	1.3	0.7
5	Adam LaRoche	2.8	2.4	0.4	5	James Loney	2.2	1.5	0.7


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Darwin Barney	6.2	4.5	1.7	1	Dustin Ackley	5.7	4.4	1.2
2	Dustin Ackley	5.4	4.8	0.6	2	Robinson Cano	5.7	4.5	1.1
3	Mark Ellis	3.5	3.0	0.5	3	Dan Uggla	6.7	5.7	1.0
4	Dustin Pedroia	4.9	4.4	0.5	4	Aaron Hill	5.9	4.9	0.9
5	Danny Espinosa	3.8	3.4	0.4	5	Darwin Barney	5.8	4.9	0.8


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Manny Machado	2.0	1.4	0.6	1	Chase Headley	5.8	4.5	1.3
2	Chase Headley	5.4	4.8	0.6	2	Aramis Ramirez	3.9	2.9	1.0
3	Alberto Callaspo	3.8	3.3	0.5	3	Adrian Beltre	3.8	3.0	0.8
4	Mike Moustakas	4.7	4.2	0.5	4	Ryan Zimmerman	5.1	4.3	0.8
5	Luis Valbuena	2.5	2.0	0.5	5	Brett Lawrie	4.3	3.6	0.7


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	J.J. Hardy	7.7	6.5	1.2	1	J.J. Hardy	7.9	6.3	1.6
2	Brendan Ryan	6.6	5.4	1.2	2	Zack Cozart	5.9	4.8	1.1
3	Andrelton Simmons	2.3	1.4	0.9	3	Erick Aybar	6.0	4.9	1.0
4	Zack Cozart	5.7	4.9	0.8	4	Andrelton Simmons	2.3	1.3	1.0
5	Brandon Crawford	5.6	4.8	0.8	5	Brandon Crawford	5.7	4.7	1.0


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Martin Prado	4.4	3.5	0.9	1	Martin Prado	4.8	3.1	1.7
2	Ryan J. Braun	6.4	5.8	0.6	2	Yoenis Cespedes	3.4	2.3	1.2
3	Desmond Jennings	3.3	2.7	0.6	3	Alex Gordon	7.8	6.8	1.1
4	Charlie Blackmon	1.0	0.5	0.5	4	Melky Cabrera	4.6	3.8	0.8
5	Dayan Viciedo	5.1	4.7	0.4	5	Daniel Nava	3.1	2.4	0.8


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Michael Bourn	5.6	4.4	1.2	1	Adam Jones	6.5	5.1	1.4
2	Coco Crisp	3.7	2.8	0.9	2	Coco Crisp	3.9	2.5	1.4
3	Lorenzo Cain	1.9	1.2	0.6	3	Michael Bourn	5.6	4.4	1.1
4	Matt Kemp	4.0	3.4	0.5	4	Michael Saunders	4.7	3.7	0.9
5	Adam Jones	6.1	5.5	0.5	5	Roger Bernadina	1.6	0.7	0.9


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Alexis Rios	7.2	5.8	1.4	1	Jason Heyward	6.3	5.0	1.4
2	Norichika Aoki	5.0	3.8	1.2	2	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	4.0	2.7	1.3
3	Jason Heyward	6.1	5.2	0.9	3	Josh Reddick	6.6	5.4	1.2
4	Josh Reddick	6.3	5.6	0.7	4	Norichika Aoki	5.0	3.8	1.2
5	Giancarlo Stanton	5.2	4.6	0.6	5	Torii Hunter	6.1	4.9	1.2

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2012 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	Buster Posey	14.6	11.2	3.5	1	Buster Posey	15.4	10.4	5.1
2	Yadier Molina	14.7	11.7	3.0	2	Yadier Molina	15.5	10.9	4.7
3	Carlos Ruiz	11.7	9.1	2.7	3	Carlos Ruiz	11.7	9.1	2.7
4	Miguel Montero	15.1	12.9	2.2	4	Miguel Montero	15.0	13.0	2.1
5	Joe Mauer	8.3	6.6	1.9	5	Yasmani Grandal	6.6	4.7	1.9


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Joey Votto	13.8	9.8	3.2	1	Adam LaRoche	20.0	14.0	4.8
2	Prince Fielder	19.6	15.9	2.9	2	Prince Fielder	20.5	15.0	4.7
3	Edwin Encarnacion	8.7	6.2	2.2	3	Joey Votto	14.3	9.3	4.2
4	Adam LaRoche	18.5	15.4	1.8	4	Paul Goldschmidt	17.4	13.1	3.2
5	Paul Goldschmidt	16.7	13.8	1.7	5	Freddie Freeman	18.4	14.2	3.1


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Robinson Cano	21.6	18.0	4.4	1	Robinson Cano	22.5	17.1	6.1
2	Aaron Hill	20.8	19.0	2.2	2	Dan Uggla	21.4	16.3	5.4
3	Dustin Pedroia	17.7	16.3	2.0	3	Brandon Phillips	20.9	16.7	4.5
4	Dan Uggla	19.7	17.9	2.0	4	Aaron Hill	21.5	18.4	3.4
5	Darwin Barney	18.1	16.9	1.5	5	Neil Walker	16.5	14.9	1.9


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Chase Headley	22.2	16.8	4.7	1	Aramis Ramirez	20.8	14.7	5.5
2	David Wright	20.8	16.6	3.5	2	Chase Headley	22.4	16.7	5.0
3	Aramis Ramirez	19.8	15.7	3.4	3	Adrian Beltre	17.4	12.4	4.8
4	Adrian Beltre	16.7	13.1	3.3	4	Miguel Cabrera	21.2	17.1	3.9
5	Miguel Cabrera	20.9	17.4	3.2	5	Pablo Sandoval	14.3	10.3	3.6


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Asdrubal Cabrera	19.4	17.8	2.5	1	Ian Desmond	18.8	15.3	4.0
2	Erick Aybar	17.0	15.6	2.2	2	Erick Aybar	17.4	15.2	2.9
3	Ian Desmond	17.8	16.3	2.1	3	Jimmy Rollins	20.3	18.2	2.7
4	Ben Zobrist	7.1	5.4	2.0	4	Ben Zobrist	7.3	5.1	2.5
5	Jed Lowrie	11.4	10.2	1.5	5	J.J. Hardy	20.7	19.2	2.4


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ryan J. Braun	22.6	16.9	5.0	1	Yoenis Cespedes	9.9	7.1	4.0
2	Josh Willingham	18.9	15.8	2.7	2	Melky Cabrera	16.4	13.0	3.8
3	Matt Holliday	20.4	17.5	2.0	3	Ryan J. Braun	21.7	16.9	3.2
4	Melky Cabrera	15.5	13.0	1.9	4	Martin Prado	16.1	12.9	3.1
5	Martin Prado	15.5	12.9	1.9	5	Matt Holliday	20.9	17.5	3.1


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Andrew McCutchen	23.1	17.2	5.1	1	Mike Trout	17.3	11.4	5.5
2	Mike Trout	16.4	12.2	3.8	2	Adam Jones	23.7	18.1	5.1
3	Matt Kemp	15.9	12.2	3.0	3	Matt Kemp	16.5	11.6	4.3
4	Adam Jones	22.3	19.5	2.2	4	Austin Jackson	19.6	15.7	3.4
5	Austin Jackson	19.0	16.3	2.1	5	Andrew McCutchen	22.2	18.1	3.2


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Giancarlo Stanton	18.1	13.5	4.0	1	Torii Hunter	19.4	15.0	3.9
2	Jason Heyward	21.5	17.5	3.0	2	Jason Heyward	21.6	17.3	3.3
3	Alexis Rios	23.0	19.8	2.5	3	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	12.8	9.3	3.2
4	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	12.4	9.6	2.4	4	Alexis Rios	23.3	19.5	3.2
5	Carlos Beltran	17.9	15.3	1.7	5	Carlos Beltran	18.6	14.6	3.2


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Clayton Kershaw	13.6	10.0	3.9	1	Justin Verlander	16.2	11.8	4.8
2	Justin Verlander	15.7	12.4	3.7	2	Clayton Kershaw	13.9	9.7	4.6
3	David Price	13.0	9.9	3.4	3	Gio Gonzalez	12.5	8.7	4.2
4	Johnny Cueto	14.0	11.3	3.0	4	David Price	13.3	9.5	4.1
5	Cliff P. Lee	11.9	9.2	3.0	5	Cole Hamels	13.3	9.7	3.9
6	Gio Gonzalez	11.9	9.4	2.8	6	Kris Medlen	6.0	2.2	3.9
7	Chris Sale	13.1	11.0	2.4	7	Johnny Cueto	14.4	10.9	3.8
8	R.A. Dickey	14.1	12.1	2.3	8	R.A. Dickey	14.8	11.4	3.8
9	Kris Medlen	5.2	3.0	2.3	9	Jered Weaver	13.1	9.7	3.7
10	Wade Miley	11.3	9.3	2.2	10	Tim Hudson	11.6	8.3	3.7


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Fernando Rodney	7.3	3.6	3.4	1	Jim R. Johnson	7.5	2.5	4.7
2	Craig Kimbrel	6.1	3.3	2.5	2	Craig Kimbrel	7.0	2.4	4.3
3	Aroldis Chapman	6.8	4.3	2.3	3	Fernando Rodney	7.6	3.3	3.9
4	Jim R. Johnson	6.2	3.8	2.1	4	Rafael Soriano	7.2	3.8	3.1
5	Greg Holland	5.7	4.0	1.5	5	Aroldis Chapman	7.3	3.8	3.1
6	Grant Balfour	5.4	3.8	1.4	6	Steve Cishek	6.0	2.7	3.1
7	Jake McGee	3.4	2.1	1.2	7	J. Mike Adams	5.6	2.6	2.8
8	Jonathan Papelbon	6.4	4.9	1.2	8	Tom Wilhelmsen	7.0	4.0	2.7
9	Glen Perkins	4.3	3.0	1.1	9	Vinnie Pestano	6.4	3.8	2.3
10	Kenley Jansen	5.0	3.7	1.1	10	Darren O'Day	4.1	1.6	2.3


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Edwin Encarnacion	8.4	5.8	2.3	1	David Ortiz	8.7	5.7	2.7
2	David Ortiz	8.3	6.1	2.0	2	Adam Dunn	9.1	6.8	2.0
3	Billy Butler	13.8	12.2	1.1	3	Edwin Encarnacion	8.2	6.1	1.8

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	Mike Leake	1.1	1.0	0.6	1	Jordan Zimmermann	1.3	1.0	0.8
2	Stephen Strasburg	1.1	1.2	0.6	2	Mike Leake	1.1	1.0	0.7
3	Jordan Zimmermann	1.0	1.3	0.4	3	Eric Stults	0.9	0.8	0.6


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Brandon Allen	1.1	0.1	1.0	1	Brandon Allen	1.1	0.1	1.0
2	Jordany Valdespin	1.8	1.0	0.8	2	Alberto Callaspo	1.0	0.2	0.8
3	Travis Buck	0.7	0.1	0.6	3	Yasmani Grandal	0.9	0.2	0.8


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Carlos Gomez	0.5	0.0	0.4	1	Peter Bourjos	0.5	0.1	0.4
2	Peter Bourjos	0.4	0.1	0.3	2	Carlos Gomez	0.5	0.1	0.4
3	Tony Campana	0.3	0.0	0.2	3	Tony Campana	0.3	0.0	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 2012

Buster Posey won the National League MVP award fairly handily. Player won-lost records generally agrees, with Buster Posey leading all National League players in pWins above both average and replacement level.

There were, however, several other results that seem to warrant further investigation.

AL MVP Race: Miguel Cabrera v. Mike Trout

Miguel Cabrera was voted American League MVP on the strength of his having won the Triple Crown: leading the American League in batting average (.330), home runs (44), and RBIs (139). The overwhelming consensus of sabermetric commentators, however, was that Mike Trout deserved the award.

So what do Player won-lost records have to say about the Cabrera-Trout debate?

Let's start with the measure of Player won-lost records that is most similar to other sabermetric measures: eWins and eLosses, which are neutralized for context and teammate quality.

	Batting		Baserunning		Fielding		Positional
	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	Average	Repl. Level
Miguel Cabrera	16.9	12.4	0.9	0.8	4.0	4.8	0.504	0.454
Mike Trout	15.4	10.6	2.4	1.6	4.2	4.2	0.506	0.457

Despite winning the Triple Crown, Trout is actually slightly ahead of Cabrera in net batting wins (eWins minus eLosses), although the two are fairly close. Trout moves more decisively ahead of Cabrera, however, with better baserunning and better fielding (although, I notice that Player won-lost records aren't a huge fan of Trout's fielding). Third base and center field are pretty comparable positions in terms of positional average, so there's nothing interesting there. Trout was better, although Cabrera makes up some of that gap if you measure vs. replacement level instead of average, because of his extra playing time.

But what about the argument that Cabrera should get credit for getting hot in the last two months and carrying the Tigers to the playoffs (and ultimately, the World Series), while the Angels missed the playoffs entirely? Moving from eWins to pWins puts the performances of Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout in the context of how they contributed to team victories.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Miguel Cabrera	161	22.0	17.7	0.554	4.0	5.9	21.9	17.8	0.552	3.8	5.8
Mike Trout	139	22.6	15.6	0.591	6.5	8.4	22.1	16.2	0.577	5.5	7.4

Context just increases Trout's lead.

Better in Context: Adam Jones, Yoenis Cespedes

Looking at the top 10 players in pWOPA and pWORL from the beginning of this article, two names that caught my eye were the top position players on the two most surprising playoff teams of 2012: Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles and Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland A's.

The table below shows Player won-lost records for Adam Jones and Yoenis Cespedes both in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Adam Jones	162	23.8	18.3	0.566	5.0	7.1	22.5	19.6	0.535	2.3	4.4
Yoenis Cespedes	129	19.8	12.9	0.606	6.6	8.3	18.1	14.5	0.555	3.2	4.9

The Baltimore Orioles competed with the New York Yankees for the AL East Division title down to the last day of the season. Yet, for most of the season, the Orioles were outscored by their opponents. Comparing their pWins and (context-neutral) eWins, the Orioles won 19.8 more games than would have been expected given their context-neutral stats. Based on the context of his performance, Adam Jones was personally responsible for 2.7 of these extra wins, (13.6%).

As one example of the Orioles' "clutchiness" and Adam Jones's part in it, the Orioles had an incredible 16-2 record in extra-inning games. In extra innings, Adam Jones batted .292/.393/.833, an OPS of 1.226, with 4 home runs and 10 RBIs in 28 plate appearances over 15 games. Overall, in the Orioles 16 extra-inning wins, Jones drove in the winning run 5 times (4 via home run) and scored the winning run another 4 times. Yep, he scored or drove in the winning run in over half of the Orioles' extra-inning wins!

As impressive as Jones was in context, Cespedes might have been even better. His OPS by leverage (high/med/low): 1.067/0.959/0.688. His OPS in extra innings: 1.500.

Adam Jones played every game for the Orioles in 2012, so it's impossible to say how much worse off the team would have done without him. Yoenis Cespedes, on the other hand, missed 33 games in 2012. And how did the A's do without him in the lineup? They went 12-21 without him (12-22 in games he didn't start). That translates into a 59-103 record over 162 games. With Cespedes in the starting lineup, the A's went 82-46, the equivalent of a 104-58 record over 162 games. Fluke? Sure, and I'm not suggesting he was worth an extra 35 wins or anything like that. But the timing of his hits, like those of Jones, translated into real wins for his team.

Worse in Context: Ryan Braun, Andrew McCutchen

While some players, such as Adam Jones and Yoenis Cespedes, were better in context than their raw context-neutral statistics might suggest, the reverse was also true. Some players' statistics did not translate into team victories to the extent that might have been expected. Two players who appear in the top 10 lists for eWOPA and eWORL at the top of this article but not for pWOPA and pWORL are Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ryan Braun	154	21.9	18.0	0.549	3.1	5.1	23.1	16.7	0.580	5.5	7.5
Andrew McCutchen	157	22.2	18.1	0.550	3.2	5.1	23.3	17.1	0.577	5.3	7.3

Neither the Milwaukee Brewers (32.6 pWORL, 34.2 eWORL) nor the Pittsburgh Pirates (24.5 pWORL, 25.8 eWORL) were notably good or bad at converting expected wins into actual wins. What the two teams did have in common, however, was that both teams' best player looks worse in context.

Ryan Braun's OPS by leverage (high/med/low) in 2012 was .894/.997/1.007. None of those numbers are bad, of course, they'd just be a bit more valuable if they were reversed.

The numbers aren't quite as dramatic for Andrew McCutchen (high/med/low), .885/1.066/.900. Again, an .885 OPS in high-leverage situations is well above-average, just not up to the level of McCutchen's overall OPS of .953.

Where Did That Come From? Kris Medlen

In the top 10 lists for pWOPA and pWORL above, only one player appears who had fewer than 15 pWins: Kris Medlen. From my perspective, the greatness of Kris Medlen's season really came out of nowhere. I only became vaguely aware that he was even having a great season some time in either August or September.

Looking at Kris Medlen's career through 2011, it's easy to see why I didn't see this coming. Up to that point, he had amassed a career pWin-pLoss record of 8.7 - 8.3, good for 0.9 pWOPA and 2.1 pWORL.

Then 2012 happened and Kris Medlen put up this line.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Kris Medlen	50	8.8	4.1	0.683	5.0	5.9	8.1	4.8	0.628	3.7	4.7

Earning 5.0 pWOPA on only 8.8 pWins is remarkable and struck me as probably being pretty damn rare. In fact, here are all of the players who have earned 4.5 or more pWOPA in a season in which they amassed fewer than 9.0 pWins since 1916.

			pWOPA>4.5, pWins<9.0 (ranked by pWOPA)
Player	Team	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Zach Britton	BAL	2016	7.8	1.8	5.7	6.7
Eric Gagne	LAN	2003	8.4	2.6	5.5	6.7
Kenley Jansen	LAN	2017	7.8	2.1	5.4	6.5
Kirby Yates	SDN	2019	8.6	3.4	5.1	6.4
Frankie Rodriguez	ANA	2006	8.8	3.5	5.1	6.4
Heath Bell	SDN	2010	8.5	3.3	5.0	6.3
Kris Medlen	ATL	2012	8.8	4.1	5.0	5.9
Ray Narleski	CLE	1955	8.7	3.9	4.9	6.3
Tim Burke	MON	1987	7.5	2.3	4.9	5.9
Dennis Eckersley	OAK	1992	7.4	2.4	4.9	5.8
Brian Wilson	SFN	2010	7.9	3.0	4.8	6.0
Trevor Hoffman	SDN	1998	7.3	2.4	4.8	5.7
Mariano Rivera	NYA	2008	7.5	2.6	4.7	5.8
Jim R. Johnson	BAL	2012	7.5	2.5	4.7	5.8
Rod Beck	SFN	1993	8.2	3.4	4.7	5.8
Joe Nathan	MIN	2006	6.7	1.8	4.6	5.5
Cal Eldred	MIL	1992	8.1	3.5	4.6	5.4
Will M. Smith	SFN	2019	7.1	2.5	4.6	5.6
Tug McGraw	NYN	1972	8.7	4.4	4.6	6.0
Randy Myers	BAL	1997	7.9	3.2	4.6	5.7
Al Hrabosky	SLN	1975	8.7	4.1	4.6	5.8
Tom Gordon	BOS	1998	8.6	3.9	4.5	5.8
Jose Mesa	CLE	1995	6.7	2.2	4.5	5.5

Same Team, Different Context: Aramis Ramirez v. Ryan Braun

Finally, in looking at the top 10 lists at the top of this article, I noticed that a Milwaukee Brewer made the top 10 in all four statistics. But it was a different Brewer on the lists based on pWins from the one based on eWins: Aramis Ramirez is #7/#8 on the pWOPA and pWORL lists; while Ryan Braun is #2/#1 in eWOPA and eWORL, but nowhere to be found on the pWORL list.

That's kind of interesting: Braun was clearly the better Brewer, but Aramis Ramirez might have been the most valuable Brewer.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ryan Braun	154	21.9	18.0	0.549	3.1	5.1	23.1	16.7	0.580	5.5	7.5
Aramis Ramirez	149	21.0	15.0	0.583	5.3	7.1	20.1	15.9	0.558	3.5	5.3

As noted above, the Brewers as a team were not particularly noteworthy in terms of eWins vs. pWins, in either a good or a bad way. But what about Braun and Ramirez?

Looking at Ryan Braun's batting splits, one can see some un-clutchiness if you look for it. As noted above, his OPS by leverage (high/med/low) was .894/.997/1.007. Of course, an OPS of .894 is nothing to sneeze at; it's just not the .987 that Braun put up overall. Similarly, with two outs and runners in scoring position, Braun's OPS was .900; late and close, it was .951; in extra innings, it was .866. Overall, Ryan Braun came to bat with 402 teammates on base; he drove in 71 of them (17.7%).

Looking at Aramis Ramirez's splits, you can see the opposite (if you go looking for it). Late and close, his OPS was .998; in extra innings, it was 1.194. Overall, Aramis Ramirez came to bat with 418 teammates on base; he drove in 78 of them, or 18.7%.

Does this mean that Aramis Ramirez was a better baseball player in 2012 than Ryan Braun? No. Does this mean that Aramis Ramirez had a better season in 2012 than Braun? Maybe. Does this mean that Aramis Ramirez's performance translated into team victories at a better rate than Ryan Braun's? Yeah, probably.

Hello Young

One of the big storylines of 2012 was the influx of great young talent. Two players in particular caught the attention of Major League Baseball fans everywhere based partly on the impressive seasons they had, but also, based on how young they were while having these seasons.

Bryce Harper burst onto the scene for the Washington Nationals at the tender age of 19 and put up a season that was good enough to win him the National League Rookie of the Year award. It was also a season that ranked among the best ever for a 19-year-old.

The table below shows the top 10 players in pWORL earned in their age-19 season for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records (since 1916).

		Best 19-Year-Olds of the Retrosheet Era
Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Dwight Gooden	1984	16.3	11.6	5.7	7.2
Bob Feller	1938	19.5	16.9	3.1	5.4
Wally Bunker	1964	13.3	10.3	3.7	5.3
Mel Ott	1928	17.0	12.6	3.4	5.1
Gary Nolan	1967	15.1	12.4	3.4	5.0
Mickey Mantle	1951	13.0	8.9	3.8	5.0
Bryce Harper	2012	19.5	16.2	2.5	4.3
Juan Soto	2018	15.8	12.6	2.5	3.9
Waite Hoyt	1919	7.2	4.8	2.8	3.6
Art Houtteman	1947	6.2	4.3	2.1	2.8

By pWORL, Bryce Harper had the 7^th-best season by a 19-year-old in the past 60+ years. Not bad at all.

Meanwhile, in the American League, there was a player who was one year older than Harper making a lot of noise too.

		Best 20-Year-Olds of the Retrosheet Era
Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Dwight Gooden	1985	21.1	11.0	11.1	13.0
Mel Ott	1929	26.5	17.4	7.3	9.6
Mickey Mantle	1952	22.6	14.6	7.4	9.4
Ted Williams	1939	25.2	17.2	6.7	9.1
Alex Rodriguez	1996	22.5	16.9	6.6	8.5
Mike Trout	2012	22.6	15.6	6.5	8.4
Bob Feller	1939	20.2	15.2	5.7	8.1
Fernando Valenzuela	1981	15.2	10.6	5.4	6.9
Terry Forster	1972	9.3	4.4	5.1	6.4
Jose D. Fernandez	2013	11.7	7.6	4.9	6.1

Goodbye Old

At the opposite extreme from Harper and Trout were the two oldest players to appear in Major League Baseball in 2012: 45-year-old Omar Vizquel and 49-year-old Jamie Moyer. Here is how the recently-completed careers of Vizquel and Moyer look in Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Omar Vizquel					Jamie Moyer
1986						16	6.3	6.1	0.5	1.2
1987						39	12.5	15.6	-2.1	-0.5
1988						34	10.6	14.1	-2.6	-1.2
1989	143	10.6	14.0	-2.5	-1.4	15	4.5	6.9	-2.2	-1.5
1990	81	7.1	9.1	-1.3	-0.6	33	4.0	4.9	-0.9	-0.2
1991	142	13.6	14.0	0.4	1.7	8	1.4	2.8	-1.3	-1.0
1992	136	14.3	17.2	-1.8	-0.4
1993	158	17.3	19.7	-1.3	0.6	25	9.5	6.8	2.7	3.7
1994	69	7.4	9.2	-1.2	-0.4	23	7.3	7.4	-0.1	0.9
1995	136	18.2	15.5	3.8	5.5	27	6.3	6.0	0.3	1.2
1996	151	17.1	17.8	0.4	2.1	34	8.3	7.2	1.1	2.2
1997	153	17.9	17.7	1.5	3.2	30	12.3	10.4	2.0	3.5
1998	151	18.2	18.5	0.9	2.7	34	14.5	11.9	2.8	4.6
1999	144	20.9	16.1	5.8	7.6	32	12.8	10.8	2.2	3.8
2000	156	17.5	18.4	0.1	1.8	26	9.7	9.6	0.2	1.5
2001	155	16.5	17.5	-0.1	1.7	33	13.3	8.8	4.8	6.3
2002	151	19.3	19.8	0.4	2.4	34	12.2	10.7	1.9	3.4
2003	64	8.3	8.1	0.5	1.3	33	13.7	9.5	4.5	6.0
2004	148	16.7	17.5	0.0	1.7	34	10.4	13.1	-2.5	-1.0
2005	152	17.3	18.1	-0.3	1.2	32	11.7	10.2	1.7	3.1
2006	153	18.0	19.0	-0.5	1.2	33	12.1	12.8	-0.2	1.4
2007	145	14.3	16.8	-2.4	-1.0	34	12.3	14.7	-1.1	0.6
2008	92	6.7	8.8	-1.7	-1.0	33	11.7	10.8	1.6	3.0
2009	62	5.0	4.2	0.9	1.3	30	9.5	11.9	-1.5	-0.2
2010	108	9.9	9.8	0.1	1.0	19	6.8	8.7	-1.5	-0.6
2011	58	4.8	5.9	-0.9	-0.4
2012	60	3.4	4.8	-1.3	-0.9	10	3.3	4.9	-1.4	-0.9
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,968	320.2	337.6	-0.5	31.0	701	237.2	236.4	9.0	39.5

And Finally, Farewell to a Pair of Hall of Famers

Two players who played their final game in 2012 have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as I write this (in 2019). Chipper Jones and Jim Thome were both elected to the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility (2018). This article concludes, then, with a comparison of the career records of Jones and Thome, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Chipper Jones					Jim Thome
1991						27	2.9	3.5	-0.6	-0.3
1992						40	3.0	4.2	-1.2	-0.8
1993	7	0.0	0.0	-0.0	-0.0	47	4.9	4.8	0.0	0.5
1994						98	11.0	8.9	2.3	3.3
1995	140	20.3	15.5	4.2	5.9	137	18.2	12.5	5.6	7.1
1996	157	22.8	17.2	5.2	7.1	151	20.4	14.1	6.1	7.7
1997	157	21.6	17.9	3.1	5.0	146	16.3	12.2	2.7	4.0
1998	160	23.6	15.9	7.3	9.3	123	13.9	10.7	2.2	3.5
1999	157	22.6	15.0	7.3	9.1	146	16.0	11.6	3.5	5.0
2000	156	21.2	16.7	4.5	6.2	158	16.2	12.8	2.2	3.7
2001	159	21.0	16.3	4.3	6.2	156	18.8	11.7	6.1	7.7
2002	158	23.6	16.4	5.9	7.9	147	19.4	13.1	5.2	6.9
2003	153	21.5	17.0	3.1	5.0	159	19.0	14.2	3.2	4.8
2004	137	17.1	12.8	3.5	5.1	142	16.0	12.9	1.8	3.3
2005	109	16.0	10.5	5.2	6.3	59	5.7	5.7	-0.6	-0.1
2006	110	13.1	12.1	0.3	1.5	143	15.8	10.4	4.7	6.4
2007	134	19.2	14.3	4.3	5.8	129	13.3	9.4	3.2	4.7
2008	128	15.5	12.2	2.9	4.1	149	13.2	12.3	0.3	2.0
2009	143	15.9	14.2	1.5	2.9	124	10.3	8.1	1.9	3.1
2010	95	12.1	9.4	2.5	3.6	108	8.3	6.2	2.0	3.0
2011	126	14.9	12.7	2.4	3.7	93	7.0	6.3	0.4	1.3
2012	112	14.1	11.5	2.2	3.4	58	4.3	4.0	0.3	0.8
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,498	336.2	257.6	69.6	98.3	2,540	273.9	209.5	51.2	77.7

Article last updated: September 12, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2012 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.

Home List of Articles