Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Ivan Rodriguez

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Ivan Rodriguez

Ivan Rodriguez was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, 2017, with 76.0% of the vote.

Five highlights of Ivan Rodriguez's career: The first two tables below present Ivan Rodriguez'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
1991TEX19
88
5.77.2-0.4-1.0
1992TEX20
123
9.410.50.5-0.4
1993TEX21
137
12.212.51.60.4
1994TEX22
99
9.18.52.01.2
1995TEX23
130
12.313.11.30.0
1996TEX24
153
15.914.63.82.3
1997TEX25
150
15.113.33.92.5
1998TEX26
145
15.613.44.63.1
1999TEX27
144
17.014.84.93.3
2000TEX28
91
9.68.22.82.0
2001TEX29
111
10.59.82.51.4
2002TEX30
108
9.39.61.40.4
2003FLO31
144
15.813.04.83.4
2004DET32
135
12.513.41.30.0
2005DET33
129
12.112.61.60.4
2006DET34
136
12.512.52.00.8
2007DET35
129
10.411.70.6-0.5
36
115
7.29.3-0.7-1.5
37
121
9.010.30.1-0.8
2010WAS38
111
8.911.1-0.9-1.8
2011WAS39
44
3.64.4-0.2-0.6
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
CAREER (reg. season)
2,543
233.5233.637.614.6
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
PostSeason (career)
40
4.03.41.10.7
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
COMBINED
2,583
237.5237.138.715.4


Expected Player Won-Lost Records
Value Decomposition
Season Team Age Games eWins eLosses eWORL eWOPA
1991TEX19
88
5.87.0-0.1-0.7
1992TEX20
123
9.310.50.3-0.6
1993TEX21
137
12.012.71.30.1
1994TEX22
99
9.38.32.31.5
1995TEX23
130
12.812.62.31.0
1996TEX24
153
15.614.83.21.7
1997TEX25
150
14.913.63.52.1
1998TEX26
145
15.213.73.92.4
1999TEX27
144
17.014.84.83.2
2000TEX28
91
9.87.93.22.4
2001TEX29
111
11.48.94.33.3
2002TEX30
108
10.18.83.02.0
2003FLO31
144
15.313.43.92.5
2004DET32
135
13.412.43.21.8
2005DET33
129
12.312.52.00.8
2006DET34
136
12.712.32.31.2
2007DET35
129
10.311.80.5-0.5
36
115
8.08.60.8-0.0
37
121
9.110.20.2-0.7
2010WAS38
111
9.011.0-0.6-1.5
2011WAS39
44
3.84.20.2-0.2
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
CAREER (reg. season)
2,543
237.0230.144.521.6
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
PostSeason (career)
40
3.73.70.60.2
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
COMBINED
2,583
240.7233.845.121.8


Ivan Rodriguez won 13 Gold Gloves in his major-league career, more than any other catcher and more than all but three players at any position (Greg Maddux, Jim Kaat, and Brooks Robinson; Ozzie Smith also won 13 Gold Gloves). Rodriguez is regarded by many as the finest defensive catcher in major-league history.

Player won-lost records agree with this assessment. The next table shows the top 10 catchers in net career fielding wins among players for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records. Player won-lost records do not evaluate a catcher's game-calling or pitch-framing abilities, so the numbers below are based entirely on a catcher's ability to prevent stolen bases, wild pitches, and passed balls, and on his abilities in fielding balls in play. Catchers share credit with pitchers in all of these components.

Top 10 Players, Net Fielding Wins, Catcher
eWins eLosses eWinPct Net Wins
1Ivan Rodriguez30.625.20.5495.5
2Gary Carter34.929.70.5405.2
3Yadier Molina23.318.60.5574.7
4Jim Sundberg26.922.80.5424.2
5Gabby Hartnett23.819.80.5453.9
6Bob Boone31.327.60.5313.7
7Tony Pena Sr.30.026.80.5283.2
8Del Crandall17.414.30.5503.2
9Johnny Bench22.519.40.5373.1
10Charles Johnson14.811.90.5552.9


In addition to being an historically great fielder, Rodriguez was also a very good hitter for most of his career. From 1992 - 2004, Rodriguez batted .308/.350/.496 with 162-game averages of 24 home runs, 97 runs scored, and 95 RBI. Rodriguez then adds to this the record for most games caught.

That's an impressive combination - one which Hall-of-Fame voters found compelling enough to elect him in his first year of eligibility.

The final table, then shows where Rodriguez ranks among all catchers for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records, measured in career wins over replacement level, earned exclusively as a catcher.

Top 10 Catchers, Wins over Replacement Level (catcher only)
eWins eLosses eWOPA eWORL
1Carlton Fisk227.2196.141.862.6
2Mike Piazza192.1154.943.260.4
3Johnny Bench193.0154.242.259.3
4Gary Carter219.9190.634.454.2
5Yogi Berra189.0158.035.353.3
6Gabby Hartnett179.0148.835.352.3
7Mickey Cochrane158.3128.834.349.2
8Bill Dickey173.5146.532.449.1
9Ivan Rodriguez228.4221.821.043.1
10Ted Simmons192.0171.524.842.8


Article last updated: October 2, 2019



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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