Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Sammy Sosa

2020 Hall of Fame Ballot Series: Sammy Sosa

Five facts about Sammy Sosa: The first two tables below present Sammy Sosa's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
Value Decomposition
Season Team Age Games pWins pLosses pWORL pWOPA
20
58
4.65.7-0.7-1.2
1990CHA21
153
18.617.22.50.8
1991CHA22
115
9.58.51.50.6
1992CHN23
67
7.98.00.3-0.4
1993CHN24
159
21.420.91.4-0.6
1994CHN25
105
15.313.71.90.5
1995CHN26
144
20.917.14.32.4
1996CHN27
124
20.315.85.03.3
1997CHN28
162
21.921.40.8-1.3
1998CHN29
159
25.718.38.26.0
1999CHN30
162
23.820.54.01.8
2000CHN31
156
23.320.23.81.7
2001CHN32
160
26.219.27.95.7
2002CHN33
150
20.920.21.5-0.6
2003CHN34
137
20.515.25.84.1
2004CHN35
126
16.314.42.50.9
2005BAL36
102
8.711.3-2.1-3.2
2006-37
-
----
2007TEX38
114
10.79.91.60.3
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
CAREER (reg. season)
2,353
316.6277.550.120.7
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
PostSeason (career)
15
1.81.60.30.1
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
COMBINED
2,368
318.4279.150.320.8


Expected Player Won-Lost Records
Value Decomposition
Season Team Age Games eWins eLosses eWORL eWOPA
20
58
5.05.4-0.0-0.5
1990CHA21
153
18.117.81.3-0.4
1991CHA22
115
8.89.10.0-0.8
1992CHN23
67
8.37.61.10.3
1993CHN24
159
22.419.93.51.5
1994CHN25
105
15.913.13.31.9
1995CHN26
144
20.317.73.11.3
1996CHN27
124
20.515.55.63.8
1997CHN28
162
22.121.21.3-0.8
1998CHN29
159
24.619.45.73.5
1999CHN30
162
24.819.56.03.9
2000CHN31
156
24.618.96.74.6
2001CHN32
160
26.918.59.26.9
2002CHN33
150
23.018.15.43.4
2003CHN34
137
19.416.33.61.8
2004CHN35
126
16.414.32.61.1
2005BAL36
102
9.310.7-0.9-1.9
2006-37
-
----
2007TEX38
114
10.410.30.9-0.3
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
CAREER (reg. season)
2,353
321.0273.158.629.2
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
PostSeason (career)
15
1.81.60.2-0.0
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
COMBINED
2,368
322.7274.858.729.2


This is Sammy Sosa's eighth year on the Hall-of-Fame ballot. I have been writing articles about Hall-of-Fame candidates since 2013 - Sammy Sosa's first year on the ballot. Much of these earlier articles are somewhat obsolete due to changes to my Player won-lost records over time. But, for the sake of posterity, these old articles are linked at the end of my general article on Player won-lost records and the Hall of Fame.

Vote Prediction
Last year, Sammy Sosa received 36 votes, good for 8.5% of the vote. After debuting in 2013 at 12.5%, Sosa's support in the last six years has ranged from 31 to 41 votes and from 7.0% to 8.6%. In 2017, Sosa got 38 votes for 8.6% of the total vote; in 2019, he got 36 votes for 8.5% of the total vote.

That doesn't look like much of a trend there - in either direction. So, I'm going to predict that Sosa's vote percentage holds constant at 8.5%.

Player Won-Lost Records and Sammy Sosa
Sammy Sosa's career is, perhaps, more interesting than his Hall-of-Fame case. Sosa's Hall-of-Fame case rests almost entirely on home runs: 609 in his career, 60+ three times, leading his league twice. But when Sammy Sosa first broke into the major leagues (at the age of 20), he was a five-tool player. For example, Sosa had more stolen bases than home runs in each of his first five seasons and through 1995, Sosa's career highs in home runs and stolen bases were identical - 36 - and he'd had two 30-HR/30-SB seasons.

And Sammy Sosa was also an excellent defensive right fielder. He was in the top 3 in his league in outfield assists five times in eight years from 1990 through 1997 and finished in the top 5 in his league in range factor in right field, leading the league twice.

Put all of that together, and Sammy Sosa was, in fact, an excellent defensive right fielder for much of his career. In fact, as measured by Player won-lost records, Sammy Sosa was the best defensive right fielder of the 1990s.

Top Right Fielders of the 1990s, Net Fielding eWins
Player eWins eLosses Net eWins
1Sammy Sosa50.345.35.0
2Brian Jordan22.218.83.4
3Reggie L. Sanders23.219.93.3
4Paul O'Neill46.243.13.1
5Raul Mondesi Sr.32.529.92.6
6Mark Whiten26.423.82.6
7Jermaine Dye14.312.02.3
8Bobby Abreu13.211.02.2
9Tim Salmon33.031.02.0
10Rob Deer18.516.71.8


Article last updated: December 26, 2019

2020 Hall of Fame Ballot Series




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