Fantasy Baseball: Runs Created-Useful Stat??

by Ray Guilfoyle on Oct 31, 2008 8:00 AM EDT in Baseball

Bill James, the king of sabermetrics, coined the term "Runs Created", in his Baseball Abstract many years ago. Runs created, according to Wikipedia, is a statistic intended to quantify a player's contribution to runs scored, as well as a team's expected number of runs scored. Runs created is calculated from other offensive statistics. James' first version of it: Runs Created = (Total Bases * (Hits + Walks))/(Plate Appearances).

I saw another blogger mention this stat recently and decided to take a peek at its value as I have never used it before. Once again, I am looking strictly at the NL players. I took a look at a quick and dirty version of the "runs created" calculation by using the following formula:

(AB * OBP * SLG)

Here is a look at the top 5 hitters at each position according to Runs Created:

First Base

Player	AB	OBP	SLG	TB	XBH	RC
Pujols, Albert 1B STL	524	0.4618	0.6527	342	81	157.94
Berkman, Lance 1B HOU	554	0.4195	0.5668	314	79	131.73
Gonzalez, Adrian 1B SD	616	0.3614	0.5097	314	69	113.47
Howard, Ryan 1B PHI	610	0.3386	0.5426	331	78	112.07
Fielder, Prince 1B MIL	588	0.3718	0.5068	298	66	110.80

Second Base

Player	AB	OBP	SLG	TB	XBH	RC
Utley, Chase 2B PHI	607	0.3796	0.5354	325	78	123.37
Uggla, Dan 2B FLA	531	0.3603	0.5141	273	70	98.36
DeRosa, Mark 2B CHC	505	0.3756	0.4812	243	54	91.27
Johnson, Kelly 2B ATL	547	0.3488	0.4461	244	57	85.11
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN	559	0.312	0.4419	247	52	77.07

Third Base

Player	AB	OBP	SLG	TB	XBH	RC
Wright, David 3B NYM	626	0.3905	0.5335	334	77	130.42
Jones, Chipper 3B ATL	439	0.47	0.574	252	47	118.43
Braun, Ryan J. 3B MIL	611	0.3348	0.5532	338	83	113.16
Ramirez, Aramis 3B CHC	554	0.3798	0.5181	287	72	109.01
Glaus, Troy 3B STL	544	0.3721	0.4835	263	61	97.87

Shortstop

Player	AB	OBP	SLG	TB	XBH	RC
Ramirez, Hanley SS FLA	589	0.3997	0.5399	318	71	127.11
Reyes, Jose B. SS NYM	688	0.3575	0.4753	327	72	116.90
Drew, Stephen SS ARI	611	0.3333	0.5025	307	76	102.33
Hardy, J.J. SS MIL	569	0.3429	0.478	272	59	93.26
Guzman, Cristian SS WAS	579	0.3453	0.4404	255	49	88.05

Outfield

Player	AB	OBP	SLG	TB	XBH	RC
Ramirez, Manny LF LA	552	0.4297	0.6014	332	74	142.65
Ludwick, Ryan OF STL	538	0.375	0.5911	318	80	119.25
Holliday, Matt LF COL	539	0.4093	0.538	290	65	118.69
Beltran, Carlos CF NYM	606	0.3759	0.5	303	72	113.90
McLouth, Nate CF PIT	597	0.3559	0.4975	297	76	105.70
Dunn, Adam LF ARI	517	0.3856	0.5126	265	63	102.19
Giles, Brian RF SD	559	0.3982	0.4562	255	56	101.55
Ethier, Andre LF LA	525	0.3748	0.5105	268	63	100.45
Burrell, Pat LF PHI	536	0.3674	0.5075	272	69	99.94
Kemp, Matt CF LA	606	0.3399	0.4587	278	61	94.48

Catchers

Player	AB	OBP	SLG	TB	XBH	RC
McCann, Brian C ATL	509	0.3735	0.5226	266	66	99.35
Soto, Geovany C CHC	494	0.3641	0.504	249	60	90.65
Martin, Russell C LA	553	0.3846	0.396	219	38	84.22
Doumit, Ryan C PIT	431	0.357	0.5012	216	49	77.12
Molina, Bengie C SF	530	0.3216	0.4453	236	49	75.90
Iannetta, Chris C COL	333	0.3901	0.5045	168	42	65.54

Yeah, I would say it's useful. A few things stood out for me:

1. Chris Iannetta: give him 500 ABs and he is a top 3 catcher.

2. Rafael Furcal: he had 36 runs created in only 143 ABs. Those were Pujols numbers over a full season should he have stayed healthy, but I tend to think he would have slipped off playing such a demanding position.

3. Ian Stewart: yeah, another Rockie, had 42 runs created in only 266 ABs. He should get 550 ABs next season should Colorado trade Garret Atkins. That should put him in the top 3-5 3bman in the NL. Can you say sleeper?

4. Joey Votto-he produced 98 runs created in 526 ABs in his first major league season. Something tells me he will be top 5-6 at 1b in 2009.

5. Andre Ethier/Matt Kemp-both in the top 10 of NL outfielders in their first full season.

What do faketeamers think?

Poll