Fun With Runs Created

Runs Created is one of my all time favorite stats.  Invented 30 or so years ago by Bill James, it remains one of the more accurate sabermetric oriented stats around, at least when used properly.  It's purpose is to estimate the number of runs a hitter contributes to his team.  According to James:

"With regard to an offensive player, the first key question is how many runs have resulted from what he has done with the bat and on the base paths. Willie McCovey hit .270 in his career, with 353 doubles, 46 triples, 521 home runs and 1,345 walks -- but his job was not to hit doubles, nor to hit singles, nor to hit triples, nor to draw walks or even hit home runs, but rather to put runs on the scoreboard. How many runs resulted from all of these things?"

When viewed on the team level the total Runs Created summed up for every player on a team is usually within 5% of the total runs the team actually scored.  In ATB, 20 of our 24 teams are within the 5% and all but one team is within 6%.  (Uncle Robby, incredibly, is off by a whopping 13%).

Armed with this knowledge, one can easily see which players are most critical to their teams offensive success.

26.6% - Babe Ruth, DCC (1st)
20.4% - Ted Williams, RKA (4th)
20.1% - Lou Gehrig, HT (6th)
19.6% - Barry Bonds, BS (3rd)
19.1% - Mickey Mantle, JMF (2nd)
18.8% - Tip O'Neill, WPM (35th)
17.6% - Jason Giambi, BS (5th)

To interpret the above, we'll walk through Babe Ruth example.  He is first in the league in Team RC %, meaning he alone accounts for 26.6% of the Chips total Runs Created.  The parenthesis at the end simply means that Ruth is also 1st in ATB in raw Runs Created.  He is having a monster year.

Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, and Mickey Mantle follow in the 2nd - 5th positions and also have relatively similar raw Runs Created totals.  However, look at the next player Tip O'Neill.  Despite being 35th in overall RC, he accounts for 18.8% of the Mechanics total team RC and that screams MVP candidate.

Further down the list, Mike Schmidt of the Thrill is 9th overall in Runs created, and yet only accounts for 14.5% of his teams offense, which speaks to a very balanced lineup.

Among the high octane offenses, two teams in particular standout as the most balanced, the Gold Country Gossamers and Bertrand Island Carnies. Neither squad heavily relies on any single player to score runs nor have an inordinate number of dead weights in the lineup.

In contrast, the highest scoring offense belongs two a team that almost completely relies on it's star player.  Mickey Mantle accounts for 19.1% of John McDonald's offense, and only 4 players account for at least 8% individually (the Carnies have 8).

Finally, here is a quick summary of which positions have the most players accounting for 15% or more of their team's total Runs Created.

6 - First Base: Gehrig, Foxx, Pujols, Cash, Terry, Bagwell
4 - Designated Hitter: Ted Williams, Giambi, Aaron, Reggie Jackson
3 - Center Field: Mantle, Mays, Charleston
3 - Second Base: Lajoie, Barnes, Dunlap
2 - Left Field: Bonds, Tip O'Neill
2 - Right Field: Ruth, Walker
1 - Shortstop: Wagner
1 - Third Base: Brett
0 - Catcher

I am not convinced any of this means a heck of a lot, but if you want to look at you own team, I put together a quick summary spreadsheet here.