For whatever reason, becoming a baseball blogger means you develop irrational emotional investments in certain players, or for certain underappreciated skill sets. Max had Daniel Hudson, Cy Young candidate-in-waiting whose career has been derailed by two Tommy John surgeries (“I can definitely see some really good Cy Young battles in the National League between Dan Hudson and Clayton Kershaw”). My irrational affinity landed squarely on the slender shoulders of Dee Gordon. I made up my own stat to help measure the impacts of Dee’s stolen bases against his more powerful opponents. Dee didn’t fare too well in that initial Slugging Percentage Plus (SPP) introduction, ranking, uh, last of the players that I pooled. He didn’t fare too well in subsequent SPP updates either, as his career in the Majors was derailed by injury being bad. It was a tough three years for Dee. But, given his play so far this year, the metric conceived in his honor appears finally ready to recognize his abilities.
From my last SPP post, in April of last year:
For a refresher, here’s the formula for Slugging Percentage Plus:
SPP = ((TB + SB + Walks + HBP- CS) / (PA))
The aim of SPP is to create a cross-skill set measurement for offensive production, by accounting for speed while still balancing the value of steals with the damage of the caught stealing. The dedicated reader will recall that the idea was born out of trying to quantify the greatness of Dee Gordon. While SPP does not follow Gordon to AAA with the Dodgers organization, it has stayed relevant as a means to level the contributions of mashers like David Ortiz with the all around performance of a Nate McLouth or a Dexter Fowler. For proof that the stat has some merit, check out the SPP standings from September of last year.
We’ll keep the formula the same, as I’m happy with its simplistic nuances. I toyed with the idea of introducing subtractors for grounded into double plays and for multiplying caught stealings by 2 to incorporate the concept of losing the base that was occupied as well as the marginal benefit of gaining a base via steal, but that complicates things for the simple reader. (I’m aware that the last sentence performs much that same function, so let’s get to the leaderboard!)
| Rank | Name | SPP |
| 1 | Troy Tulowitzki | 0.828 |
| 2 | Giancarlo Stanton | 0.728 |
| 3 | Jose Bautista | 0.695 |
| 4 | Shin-Soo Choo | 0.667 |
| 5 | Albert Pujols | 0.667 |
| 6 | Justin Upton | 0.656 |
| 7 | Charlie Blackmon | 0.654 |
| 8 | Jose Abreu | 0.651 |
| 9 | Adrian Gonzalez | 0.643 |
| 10 | Nelson Cruz | 0.638 |
| 11 | Mike Trout | 0.630 |
| 12 | Andrew McCutchen | 0.628 |
| 13 | Michael Morse | 0.623 |
| 14 | Victor Martinez | 0.619 |
| 15 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia | 0.617 |
| 16 | Carlos Gomez | 0.606 |
| 17 | Justin Morneau | 0.606 |
| 18 | Adam Dunn | 0.603 |
| 19 | Dee Gordon | 0.602 |
| 20 | Adam LaRoche | 0.598 |
| 21 | Anthony Rizzo | 0.593 |
| 22 | Buster Posey | 0.592 |
| 23 | Paul Goldschmidt | 0.590 |
| 24 | Brian Dozier | 0.589 |
| 25 | Melky Cabrera | 0.584 |
| 26 | Jonathan Villar | 0.580 |
| 27 | Rajai Davis | 0.579 |
| 28 | Yasiel Puig | 0.578 |
| 29 | Jacoby Ellsbury | 0.576 |
| 30 | Mike Napoli | 0.570 |
| 31 | Desmond Jennings | 0.570 |
| 32 | Anthony Rendon | 0.569 |
| 33 | David Ortiz | 0.569 |
| 34 | Joey Votto | 0.568 |
| 35 | Chase Utley | 0.568 |
| 36 | Yoenis Cespedes | 0.567 |
| 37 | Todd Frazier | 0.566 |
| 38 | Matt Wieters | 0.566 |
| 39 | Josh Donaldson | 0.561 |
| 40 | Carlos Ruiz | 0.560 |
| 41 | Freddie Freeman | 0.557 |
| 42 | Carlos Gonzalez | 0.555 |
| 43 | Brandon Belt | 0.550 |
| 44 | Colby Rasmus | 0.544 |
| 45 | Austin Jackson | 0.543 |
| 46 | Brandon Crawford | 0.542 |
| 47 | Jayson Werth | 0.542 |
| 48 | Torii Hunter | 0.542 |
| 49 | Brandon Moss | 0.542 |
| 50 | Matt Kemp | 0.541 |
| 51 | Dayan Viciedo | 0.537 |
| 52 | Marlon Byrd | 0.536 |
| 53 | Jay Bruce | 0.536 |
| 54 | Coco Crisp | 0.536 |
| 55 | Nolan Arenado | 0.534 |
| 56 | Danny Espinosa | 0.533 |
| 57 | Matt Joyce | 0.533 |
| 58 | Howie Kendrick | 0.527 |
| 59 | Jhonny Peralta | 0.527 |
| 60 | Miguel Montero | 0.525 |
| 61 | Pedro Alvarez | 0.524 |
| 62 | Hanley Ramirez | 0.524 |
| 63 | Michael Brantley | 0.523 |
| 64 | Alexei Ramirez | 0.521 |
| 65 | James Loney | 0.519 |
| 66 | Juan Uribe | 0.519 |
| 67 | Neil Walker | 0.517 |
| 68 | Carlos Beltran | 0.516 |
| 69 | Angel Pagan | 0.515 |
| 70 | Jason Kipnis | 0.513 |
| 71 | Chris Davis | 0.511 |
| 72 | Prince Fielder | 0.510 |
| 73 | Lucas Duda | 0.510 |
| 74 | Miguel Cabrera | 0.508 |
| 75 | Kyle Seager | 0.508 |
| 76 | Yadier Molina | 0.508 |
| 77 | Jimmy Rollins | 0.504 |
| 78 | Garrett Jones | 0.504 |
| 79 | Yangervis Solarte | 0.500 |
| 80 | Jose Altuve | 0.500 |
| 81 | Trevor Plouffe | 0.500 |
| 82 | Jed Lowrie | 0.500 |
| 83 | Starling Marte | 0.500 |
| 84 | Josmil Pinto | 0.500 |
| 85 | Daniel Murphy | 0.496 |
| 86 | Ryan Howard | 0.496 |
| 87 | Salvador Perez | 0.496 |
| 88 | Alcides Escobar | 0.496 |
| 89 | Aaron Hill | 0.490 |
| 90 | Welington Castillo | 0.490 |
| 91 | Evan Longoria | 0.490 |
| 92 | Hunter Pence | 0.490 |
| 93 | Joe Mauer | 0.489 |
| 94 | Edwin Encarnacion | 0.486 |
| 95 | Alex Rios | 0.486 |
| 96 | Kurt Suzuki | 0.485 |
| 97 | Christian Yelich | 0.483 |
| 98 | Jonathan Lucroy | 0.480 |
| 99 | Matt Holliday | 0.479 |
| 100 | Chris Owings | 0.478 |
| 101 | Emilio Bonifacio | 0.477 |
| 102 | Justin Smoak | 0.476 |
| 103 | Marcell Ozuna | 0.474 |
| 104 | Matt Adams | 0.473 |
| 105 | Ben Zobrist | 0.473 |
| 106 | Nick Markakis | 0.471 |
| 107 | Chris Colabello | 0.469 |
| 108 | Robinson Cano | 0.467 |
| 109 | Mike Zunino | 0.464 |
| 110 | Chris Denorfia | 0.462 |
| 111 | Starlin Castro | 0.462 |
| 112 | Jason Kubel | 0.462 |
| 113 | Jason Castro | 0.458 |
| 114 | Ian Kinsler | 0.457 |
| 115 | David Murphy | 0.457 |
| 116 | Chris Carter | 0.457 |
| 117 | Casey McGehee | 0.454 |
| 118 | Dustin Pedroia | 0.453 |
| 119 | Adam Eaton | 0.451 |
| 120 | Jackie Bradley Jr | 0.451 |
| 121 | Alfonso Soriano | 0.450 |
| 122 | Leonys Martin | 0.449 |
| 123 | Eric Young | 0.449 |
| 124 | Corey Hart | 0.447 |
| 125 | Xander Bogaerts | 0.447 |
| 126 | Ryan Ludwick | 0.447 |
| 127 | Alberto Callaspo | 0.446 |
| 128 | Andrelton Simmons | 0.442 |
| 129 | B.J. Upton | 0.442 |
| 130 | Brett Lawrie | 0.441 |
| 131 | Brett Gardner | 0.441 |
| 132 | Omar Infante | 0.440 |
| 133 | Eric Hosmer | 0.440 |
| 134 | Matt Dominguez | 0.439 |
| 135 | Nick Castellanos | 0.439 |
| 136 | Brian Roberts | 0.438 |
| 137 | Wil Myers | 0.438 |
| 138 | Carlos Santana | 0.438 |
| 139 | Matt Carpenter | 0.431 |
| 140 | Dustin Ackley | 0.426 |
| 141 | Dexter Fowler | 0.424 |
| 142 | Khris Davis | 0.424 |
| 143 | Aramis Ramirez | 0.423 |
| 144 | Jason Heyward | 0.423 |
| 145 | Scooter Gennett | 0.420 |
| 146 | Erick Aybar | 0.419 |
| 147 | Adeiny Hechavarria | 0.418 |
| 148 | DJ LeMahieu | 0.414 |
| 149 | Dioner Navarro | 0.413 |
| 150 | Jonathan Schoop | 0.412 |
| 151 | Marcus Semien | 0.411 |
| 152 | Ian Desmond | 0.407 |
| 153 | Denard Span | 0.407 |
| 154 | Elvis Andrus | 0.406 |
| 155 | Billy Hamilton | 0.404 |
| 156 | Andre Ethier | 0.402 |
| 157 | Gerardo Parra | 0.397 |
| 158 | Asdrubal Cabrera | 0.397 |
| 159 | Nick Swisher | 0.396 |
| 160 | Alex Gordon | 0.396 |
| 161 | Curtis Granderson | 0.395 |
| 162 | Jean Segura | 0.395 |
| 163 | David Wright | 0.393 |
| 164 | Yunel Escobar | 0.391 |
| 165 | Ben Revere | 0.390 |
| 166 | Norichika Aoki | 0.388 |
| 167 | Mike Moustakas | 0.387 |
| 168 | Domonic Brown | 0.387 |
| 169 | Billy Butler | 0.386 |
| 170 | Brandon Phillips | 0.385 |
| 171 | Brian McCann | 0.383 |
| 172 | Adam Jones | 0.380 |
| 173 | Alejandro De Aza | 0.376 |
| 174 | Brad Miller | 0.373 |
| 175 | Allen Craig | 0.367 |
| 176 | Derek Jeter | 0.365 |
| 177 | Everth Cabrera | 0.354 |
| 178 | Abraham Almonte | 0.354 |
| 179 | Chris Johnson | 0.350 |
| 180 | Pablo Sandoval | 0.349 |
| 181 | Martin Prado | 0.347 |
| 182 | Raul Ibanez | 0.346 |
| 183 | Jedd Gyorko | 0.336 |
| 184 | Zack Cozart | 0.330 |
| 185 | Dan Uggla | 0.321 |
| 186 | Will Venable | 0.281 |
| 187 | Nate Schierholtz | 0.275 |
| 188 | Yonder Alonso | 0.263 |
If you look closely, you will see that Dee Gordon currently ranks 19th in baseball in SPP. This is very exciting news for a certain blogger.
I usually use this space to mention a few surprises reflected in the SPP standings, both positively and negatively. We’ll call them the SPP Darlings and the SPP Clowns today.
SPP Darlings:
- Justin Upton (ranked 6) is surprisingly high. He’s likely helped by his power numbers (9 HR) and 4 steals, without a CS.
- Justin Morneau (17) appears to have regained his form after missing so much time with concussion issues.
- Brian Dozier (24) already has 8 homeruns and 11 steals. Cuurently, 27.5% of his hits are homeruns.
- Jonathan Villar (26) and his 5 early season homeruns and 6 steals at shortstop are interesting for the Astros
SPP Clowns:
- Everth Cabrera (177) is another player in the Dee Gordon mold who one might think would shine more in the SPP light, but Cabrera currently ranks 177 among the 188 qualifiers. He’s just 5 of 8 on stolen base attempts and one has to wonder about the Biogenesis affect.
- Will Venable (186) looked poised for a big season after last years 22 homer, 22 steal campaign. His SPP is currently .281 after it was .551 a year ago. That Venable is performing with the likes of Dan Uggla and not Carlos Gonzalez or Brandon Belt is a big reason for the Padres early season struggles.
- Eric Hosmer (133) may not steal many bases, but the statistic’s top performer has yet to steal a bag this year. Hosmer has just 1 HR, but his 13 doubles do rank second in MLB. Hosmer may never be the masher that was envisioned, but a .296 hitter among the league leaders in doubles will be just fine. SPP doesn’t have to like him.
Let me know what you think of the stat and of the rankings. It’s good you’re back, Dee Gordon.
-Sean Morash
Stat of the Day: MLB catchers have 14 steals on the year. Dee Gordon has 19.
