The Runmakers: A New Way to Rate Baseball Players

by Frederick E. Taylor

Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball. Managers pore over batting averages to determine game day lineups and batting orders; high number of runs batted in and low earned run averages receive praise from the press, higher salaries from the front office, and love from fans; and the fate of fantasy baseball players rises and falls with each statistical change. The prominence of the RC/27 and other more complex, formula-driven stats has made numbers even more important to understanding and appreciating the game. For all these baseball buffs and more, Frederick E. Taylor provides a new measure of hitting prowess that just might be a game changer. Taylor's potential runs per game (PRG) measure accounts for batters getting on base, advancing runners, and driving in runs, and it separates leadoff and second batters from those in the middle of the order. Taylor introduces the measure, explains how it works, and applies it to players past and present. He breaks the history of major league baseball into eight eras based on differences in runs scored per game. He systematically―player-by-player and position-by-position―compares the results of the PRG measure to those drawn from other statistics, such as on-base percentage and slugging average. Taylor shows that PRG is more accurate and that career clutch hitting is a myth. Sabermetricians, baseball fans of all stripes, and anyone who earns a living from the sport will find a wealth of information and a whole new set of stats to obsess over in The Runmakers . Measuring baseball will never be the same.

Genres: Baseball

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2011

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

2-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, multiple runners LOB

Author Frederick Taylor delves into the sacred world of baseball statistics head-first by proposing the semi-complex Potential Runs per Game (PRG) formula as a potentially superior method of determining the best hitters in baseball history. While noting numerous times there is neither a guaranteed measure nor statistic proving one evaluation is better than another, he pleads his case to the jury of Sabermetricians, baseball statisticians, and fantasy baseball leagues. His case breaks down the inefficiencies and flaws of current baseball measurements.

Ultimately, this book hits a leadoff laser like Ichiro, limps around first and second like Kirk Gibson, prematurely raises the base at third like Rickey Henderson, and ends up disappointing, while nonetheless demanding attention as a force to be reckoned with, like Barry Bonds.

[Matthew Weymar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The analysis - and the novel stat, PRG, upon which it is based - is interesting, but the text is, sadly, super-dry. Arid. Utterly dessicated. The book's structure, and Taylor's prose redefine the term "formulaic."

Still, I found Taylor's normalized PRG to be a compelling basis for comparing players from different eras -- with some results that I, at least, found surprising (but won't spoil for you).

This is a book I should have skimmed rather than read.