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Big Papi Back at Fox

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FOX Sports made it official today, Red Sox great David Ortiz will be back with the network in a multi-year deal for baseball analysis. The 10-time All-Star’s first assignment under the new deal will be to cover the 89th All-Star Game presented by Mastercard from Nationals Park in Washington, DC next month.

Ortiz will also contribute to FOX Sports’ spring training, regular season, postseason and World Series coverage. He’ll join first ballot Hall-of-Famer Frank Thomas, Alex Rodríguez, and host Kevin Burkhardt on the set. Their postseason work last year won the category Outstanding Studio Show – Limited Run at the 2017 Sports Emmy awards.

A few days ago, Major League Baseball announced that Ortiz will manage the World team in the 20th All-Star Futures Game on July 15. That game showcases the top minor league prospects.

Big Papi retired at the end of the 2016 season with 541 home runs, 2,472 hits and 1,768 RBIs. The Red Sox retired Ortiz’s jersey (No. 34) in a ceremony last season.


Assessing Isolated Power

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When it comes to evaluating offensive performance, RSNStats focuses heavily on slash lines, a common set of statistics that includes Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage. But there are many more ways to evaluate players. This article describes one of those ways, Isolated Power.

Understanding ISO

Isolated Power (or ISO), is a simple but telling stat to help you better understand a player’s ability hit for power. The higher a player’s Isolated Power, the more likely they are to belt extra base hits (that is, doubles, triples, and home runs). Players with an ISO of .250 or higher are the game’s premier hitters. Statisticians remind us that ISO requires a large sample size in order to be considered accurate or predictive. Generally, ISO is best measured with 500 or more plate appearances or 1,000 or more at-bats.

To calculate ISO you add up a player’s extra base hits, giving more credit for home runs than triples and more credit for triples than doubles then divide that by the player’s number of at-bats: ((2B) + (2×3B) + (3×HR) / AB). A shortcut that works the same way is to subtract the player’s batting average from his slugging percentage.

The formula for Isolated Power is similar to that of Slugging Percentage, but it eliminates singles from the equation as they do not represent powerful at-bats. Players with very different performances on the field can have identical Slugging Percentages, but it’s their Isolated Power that spotlights the players who are specifically adept at hitting for power.

A player that only hit singles would have a zero ISO. One who only hit home runs would have a 3.000 ISO.

ISO Leaders

In 2017, average ISO across baseball was .171, with the Astros at an MLB-best .196 and the Giants at a last place .132. The top player ISO for 2017 (minimum 500 plate appearances) was the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton (.350). Aaron Judge of the Yankees (.343) owned the top ISO in the American League. Only three other players in baseball had ISOs of .300 or higher in 2017: Joey Gallo (.327), Mike Trout (.323), and Cody Bellinger (.315).

As a team the Red Sox ISO was a weak .149 in 2017, the lowest such ISO in the American League and third-lowest in baseball. Mitch Moreland led the club that season with a .197 ISO, followed by Mookie Betts (.194) and Hanley Ramírez (.188).

The Red Sox all-time best career ISO was .290 by Ted Williams (1939-60), followed by Jimmie Foxx (.285, 1936-42). They’re followed on the club list by David Ortiz (.278, 2003-16), Manny Ramírez (.276, 2001-08), and Jose Canseco (.273, 1995-96). Rounding out the Red Sox Top 10 ISOs of all time are Jason Bay (.260, 2008-09), Babe Ruth (.260, 1914-19), Carl Everett (.238, 2000-01), Mo Vaughn (.238, 1991-98) and Dick Stuart (.236, 1963-64).

At the start of 2018 and with a minimum 1,000 plate appearances, Giancarlo Stanton (.284) owns the top ISO among active players followed by Mike Trout (.264), Khris Davis (.261), Albert Pujols (.256), Trevor Story (.248), Nolan Arenado (.246), Nelson Cruz (.243), Kris Bryant (.241), Miguel Sano (.241) and Chris Davis (.240).

For all-time (minimum 1,000 games played), just three players have ISOs of .300 or higher: Babe Ruth (.348, 1914-35), Mark McGwire (.325, 1986-2001), and Barry Bonds (.309, 1986-2007).


Notes For Red Sox Fans on a Day Without Baseball

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On this day without baseball, a few notes of interest to Red Sox fans as we get closer to the start of the 2017 American League Division Series.

If you’d allow me just one personal note, a quick thought on the terrible news from Las Vegas today. Long-time followers of RSNStats on Twitter may know that Vegas was my home, until recently, for the past 15 or so years. It’s the place I’ve lightheartedly called, “RSNStats World Headquarters.”

Visitors—and there were always visitors—would ask what it’s like to live in Las Vegas. I’d always say the same thing: Vegas is like anywhere else. We have schools, libraries, banks and bakeries, churches, parks, and now, even major sports teams. It’s like anywhere else, just hotter.

It’s easy to think of Las Vegas as “sin city” or expect it to be all just like The Strip, but in reality, off the Strip, it’s feels like any other American city. There are a lot of good people there and I’m relieved to say I have heard of none, so far, to have been directly impacted by the events of October 1. Of course, all of them will be indirectly affected in the weeks, months, and even years ahead. Keep them in your thoughts.

Incidentally, former Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert on Sunday, tweeting out a picture before the shooting. He tweeted later that he and his party were OK.

Now, on to more pleasant topics…

  • We won’t have Pete Rose comments to scratch our heads about this post-season. Fox Sports is finally moving away from Rose after allegations this summer that he committed statutory rape more than 40 years ago. All the lurid details are covered by ESPN, but the good news for Sox fans is that the network coverage will instead feature All-Stars Keith Hernandez and David Ortiz. Papi called the network call-up, “the next best thing to stepping on that field in a uniform.”
  • What are your ten biggest, best postseason memories for the Red Sox? Bosox Injection took a crack at building a definitive list and, while you may quibble with the order, it’s hard to argue with the No. 1 spot on the list.
  • NESN analyst Tom Caron, writing for the Portland Press Herald, reminds the Nation that while the regular season is a marathon, the postseason is a sprint. And in any sprint, how you get out of the box can be the most important thing. For the Red Sox, that puts more pressure than ever on Chris Sale when he faces Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Thursday.
  • Ted Barrett, a 20-year MLB umpiring veteran, will be the crew chief for the Sox and Astros’ ALDS. He’ll be at second base for Game 1 on Thursday. “Reverend Doctor Crew Chief” is an ordained minister at a non-denominational church in Arizona. Dan Bellino, who himself holds a law degree, will be the umpire at home plate. At first base will be Angel Hernandez while Mark Wegner will handle third base. For postseason games, there are also outfield umpires on the crew. Mike Everitt and Marty Foster will man the left and right field lines, respectively. This crew will stay with the teams for the entirety of this series.

#34ever

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Personally, I’ve been waiting for this night since it first announced. And what a night it was.

The Red Sox fêted David Ortiz in a manner appropriate to his significance to this club and its fan base, offering the ultimate honor for any player, Friday night at Fenway.

Ortiz joined Wade Boggs, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Pedro Martinez, Johnny Pesky, Jim Rice, Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as Red Sox icons who have had their numbers retired by the club. Jackie Robinson‘s #42 was retired by all thirty major league clubs in 1997.

Martinez, Rice, Yaz, Boggs, as well as representatives from the families of Cronin, Doerr, and Pesky, as well as Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield were on the field for the ceremonies, along with Sox executives and members of Ortiz’ family. In a touching tribute, the son and daughter of the late Kirby Puckett, a mentor of Ortiz’ from his time with the Twins, joined the contingent on the field.

We’ve had plenty of opportunities in the past to revel in Big Papi’s tremendous impact on baseball’s record books. I won’t do it again now, though a quick search of this site will reveal some powerful examples. The Boston Globe‘s Peter Abraham does a nice job capturing 34 Things To Know About David Ortiz, including the fact that his 632 doubles are the 10th-most all-time and that only other players in history with 500 homers and 600 doubles are Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, and Albert Pujols.

And There Was a Game, Too

The highpoint of the evening came first with the pre-game Ortiz ceremonies, but then the Red Sox powered themselves to a win in a series opener against the Angels, too. All three Sox hitters who came to the plate in the first inning came around to score. Boston has won their last 14 games when scoring three or more runs in the first inning.

Later in the game, Sandy Leon would tie his season-high for a third time with three hits and match a career-high with four RBI, aided by a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Hanley Ramirez also belted a two-run HR in the fourth inning, the 250th round tripper of his career. Ramírez on Friday reached base safely for a 24th straight home game, the longest active home on-base streak in the American League.

Rick Porcello collected his fourth win of the season, his first since May 23rd. Porcello worked 6.1 IP, allowing four runs (three earned), on eight hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.


Red Sox Trailing In 2017 All-Star Fan Voting

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Boston may be atop or near the top of the American League East, but with just three weeks until the All-Star Game, not a single Red Sox player is leading the fan vote for any of the starting spots.

Major League Baseball provided a fourth voting update on Tuesday.

This season the American League and National League teams will have 32 players each, with fans voting for the starting players (including a designated hitter of the AL team). The players select the reserve players for each position as well as five starting pitchers and three relief pitchers. Fans will also be able to vote on a final All-Star player, but in a new twist for 2017 it will be the Commissioner’s Office that will fill out any remaining roster spots instead of the team managers.

Tuesday’s update spotlighted Eric Hosmer of the Royals, who leapfrogged the competition to be the top vote getter currently at first base. He leads the Athletics Yonder Alonso by just under 50,000 fan votes. Though the margins changed, every otherAL  starter was the same as in MLB’s third update:

  • Catcher: Royals backstop Salvador Perez (1,453,088 votes) has a 401,950 vote lead over the Astros Brian McCann.
  • Second Base: The Astros José Altuve is now up to 2,185,035 votes, a commanding 734,563 vote lead over the Yankees Starlin Castro. Altuve is the first second baseman in the AL to reach two million votes. Dustin Pedroia is in fourth place in the vote tally with 429,194 votes.
  • Third Base: Miguel Sanó of the Twins leads the voting with 1.3 million votes, 410,359 more than the runner up, José Ramírez of the Indians.
  • Shortstop: Carlos Correa, the dynamic young Astros SS leads the tally with 1.6 million votes to date. The Indian Francisco Lindor is 350,000 votes behind and in second place. Xander Bogaerts is in fourth place currently with 750,706 votes.
  • Designated Hitter: The Mariners Nelson Cruz has 1,118,874 votes for the lead. The Yankees Matt Holliday is close, though, with 927,247 votes for second place.
  • Outfield: No surprise, the electrifying season to date for the Yankees Aaron Judge has him solidly in first place with over 2.6 million votes, even ahead of Angels’ phenom Mike Trout (2,030,074). The Astros George Springer is in third place with 1.1 million votes. Mookie Betts ranks sixth presently (946,510) and Andrew Benintendi appears at #10 so far (704,484).

The Sox had their most All-Stars in 1946 when eight players made it to the Mid-Summer Classic: Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Dave Ferriss, Mickey Harris, Johnny Pesky, Hal Wagner, Ted Williams, and Rudy York. Williams, of course, made the most All-Star starts in club history (12 starts in 18 career games). Yastrzemski had eight starts, but was likewise selected for 18 career games.

The 88th Annual All-Star Game will be held at Marlins Stadium in Miami. You can vote on the official ballot as many as five times every 24 hours (up to a total of 35 ballots). Voting ends June 29, 2017 at 11:59 PM ET.

A couple other notes of interest for Red Sox fans:

  • The big David Ortiz number retirement ceremony is Friday, June 23 at Fenway and it’s sure to be a grand affair. The Sox first put numbers on their jerseys in 1931 but didn’t retire their first number until 1984. Ortiz’ #34 will be the 10th retired number for Boston joining #1 Bobby Doerr (number formerly retired in 1988), #4 Joe Cronin (1984), #6 Johnny Pesky (2008), #8 Carl Yastrzemski (1989), #9 Ted Williams (1984), #14 Jim Rice (2009), #26 Wade Boggs (2016), #27 Carlton Fisk (2000), and #45 Pedro Martínez (2015). The Sox joined all MLB clubs in retiring Jackie Robinson‘s #42 in 1997.
  • The Sox have signed two players from last week’s 2017 June MLB Draft: infielder Tanner Nishioka, who was selected in the 9th round, and outfielder Jordan Wren, who was chosen in the 10th round. Hawaii-native Nishioka hit .441 with a 1.430 OPS and 18 home runs leading Division III hitters at Ponoma-Pitzer College in California where he majored in neuroscience. Wren, who hit .268 with an .842 OPS at Georgia Southern, is the son of Sox executive Frank Wren. The Sox picked him in the 36th round last year but he declined signing so as to finish college. Both players will report to Class A Short-Season Lowell. Be sure to check out the RSNStats story from last week on all 40 of the club’s draft picks.