Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Jose Bautista is the Best Player in Baseball

Over the past two seasons Jose Bautista has practically taken over baseball. Last year he posted 6.9 WAR and this season he's on pace to surpass it, posting a 6.8 WAR.

Last year most of Bautista's value came from the long ball, hitting 54 home runs, 38 more then his previous career high. He had a .357 ISO, which is insane to go along with a .422 wOBA. His HR/FB% shows us that he was hitting home runs 21.7% of the time, a solid number that gives you a good testement of his power. All of those are insane numbers. The number that stud out to me though was his .233 BABIP which is significantly below league average. League average typically hovers between .295 and .300. Bautista also contributed 55.6 runs last year, which shows by looking at his wRAA. He was also worth $27.5 million dollars to the club last year, which is ridiculous. Let's see what his splits have to say about last year.

Home:

BABIP: .216

BB%: 16.4%

HR/FB%: 26.2%

ISO: .438

K%: 13.1%

wRAA: 38.9

wRC+: 196

wOBA: .465

By looking at these stats you can tell that Bautista was amazing at home, most players are since you play half the year though but still. His .438 ISO is just insane and his 26.2 HR/FB% is ridiculous as well. The Rogers Centre is known for giving up home runs but Bautista went above and beyond. He was creating runs 96% better then league average at home, a 196 wRC+ is crazy wherever you play though. By looking at his BABIP though you should be able to tell that he just ran into bad luck last year even though he had one heck of a season. Let's see how he faired on the road.

Away:

BABIP: .250

BB%: 12.9%

HR/FB%: 17.1%

ISO: .281

K%: 20.7%

wRAA: 16.7

wRC+: 138

wOBA: .381

Bautista wasn't quite as good on the road but he still put up solid numbers. His  .281 ISO would still be one of the best in the league and his .381 wOBA would fall just below the 90th percentile. Not too shabby. He still created runs 38% above average and contributed 16.7. Again he had a low BABIP of .250 so he should have been even better then he was. One little cause of concern though was the increase in strikeouts on the road but he was so good it didn't even matter.

You can see why pitchers feared Bautista, he has insane power and seems to create runs at will. One of the main reasons for his huge turn around is hs new swing, it's much better then that ippercut last year. How does he compare this year? To be blunt, he's miles upon miles better.

Home:

BABIP: .336

BB%: 20.5%

HR/FB%: 27.1%

ISO: .369

K%: 16%

wRAA: 27.3

wRC+: 217

wOBA: .489

I don't think you can get much better then this. His BABIP is slightly high but he has a ridiculous .369 ISO, .489 wOBA and a 217 wRC+! I know I mentioned the effect the Rogres Centre has but those numbers are just sick. He's hitting home runs at an unprecedented rate, 27.1% of the time and walking 20.5% of the time. I guess you can say pitchers have learned their lesson. The 27.7 runs he's contributed to hasn't been to shabby either. To reiterate what I said earlier, Bautista has just been on a tear this season and I don't see him slowing down.

Away:

BABIP: .289

BB%: 18.4

HR/FB%: 21%

ISO: .302

K%: 14.8%

wRAA: 23.1

wRC+: 176

wOBA: .430

Bautista has been excellent on the road this year as well. His .430 wOBA and .302 ISO are both well above average and pitchers fear him on the road just as much as at home as his 18.4 BB% indicates. Bautista's 176 wRC+ is excellent and a solid increase above his road wRC+ of 138 last year. Bautista has just been an all around stud this year. The main point of the article was to prove how Bautista has been the best player in the game the last two seasons so let's see how he stacks up against the player most have been considering the best the past decade in Albert Pujols.

I realize Pujols has missed time this season and started off slow but he's rebounded quite nicely.

Pujols 2010:

BABIP: .297

BB%: 14.7%

HR/FB%: 18.3%

ISO: .284

K%: 10.9%

WAR: 7.5

wRAA: 55.4

wRC+: 165

wOBA: .420

Bautista and Pujols were pretty much even last year, both posting solid numbers across the board, I would still give the edge to Bautista even though Pujols had a higher WAR because he posted excellent numbers but was still affected by an absurdly low BABIP, Pujols' had a BABIP of .297 so he was right at his true playing level.

Pujols 2011:

BABIP: .254

BB%: 8.7%

HR/FB%: 19.1%

ISO: .255

K%: 8.7%

WAR: 3.5

wRAA: 23.3

wRC+: 144

wOBA: .382

One look at Pujols' stats and you think obviously Bautista is better but Pujols' started off really slow and missed time to do injury. Pujols isn't having a horrible season at all. His BABIP indicates he should see an increase in his stats. He has a solid wRC+, his ISO is good and he could still amass a 5 WAR.

Bautista was rewarded with a 5 year $65 million dollar contract last off-season, so far he has earned $30.8 million dollars based on his play this year, the Blue Jays should easily get way more value then they are paying Bautista making that deal a steal. Based on all the facts, Jose Bautista is the best player in baseball and if he keeps it up he could reach 35 career WAR which would be crazy based on him being a late bloomer.

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