Justin Upton, Dexter Fowler Impress As April’s SPP Leaders

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Atlanta Braves slugger Justin Upton won April handily, while an outfielder for the Colorado Rockies surprised everyone.  The young Upton clubbed more home runs than singles in the month and continued to make the rest of the baseball world question GM Kevin Towers’ decision to ostracize the kid. from the organization.  It’s no surprise that the Upton leads the world in my made up stat, but some of the other players atop the leaderboard may raise an eyebrow.  Dexter Fowler has been an offensive force in the early goings, the power surge reminiscent of Joe Mauer’s out-of-nowhere 28 home runs in 2009.

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 caught stealings.  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 levelize 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.

Your April leaderboard:

Rank Name SPP
1 Justin Upton 0.795
2 Carlos Santana 0.762
3 Chris Davis 0.752
4 Bryce Harper 0.748
5 Dexter Fowler 0.705
6 Mark Reynolds 0.684
7 Coco Crisp 0.675
8 Carlos Gomez 0.670
9 Jean Segura 0.663
10 Nate McLouth 0.660
11 Shin-Soo Choo 0.66
12 Lucas Duda 0.649
13 Josh Willingham 0.647
14 Prince Fielder 0.643
15 Troy Tulowitzki 0.638
16 Robinson Cano 0.638
17 Carlos Gonzalez 0.64
18 Ryan Braun 0.619
19 Michael Cuddyer 0.617
20 Miguel Cabrera 0.615
21 David DeJesus 0.614
22 David Wright 0.613
23 Jose Bautista 0.605
24 Vernon Wells 0.604
25 Anthony Rizzo 0.604
26 Russell Martin 0.602
27 Alex Rios 0.596
28 Evan Gattis 0.595
29 Ian Kinsler 0.595
30 Carl Crawford 0.592
31 Seth Smith 0.585
32 Chase Utley 0.585
33 Lance Berkman 0.584
34 Edwin Encarnacion 0.584
35 Jed Lowrie 0.583
36 John Buck 0.581
37 Nate Schierholtz 0.580
38 Paul Goldschmidt 0.575
39 J.P. Arencibia 0.574
40 Starling Marte 0.571
41 Joey Votto 0.568
42 Nelson Cruz 0.566
43 Evan Longoria 0.565
44 Garrett Jones 0.565
45 Brandon Moss 0.563
46 Mike Napoli 0.563
47 Buster Posey 0.561
48 Mark Trumbo 0.555
49 Carlos Beltran 0.553
50 Nick Hundley 0.553
51 Yuniesky Betancourt 0.552
52 Josh Donaldson 0.552
53 Ian Desmond 0.551
54 Daniel Nava 0.549
55 Adam Jones 0.547
56 Brandon Crawford 0.543
57 Chris Johnson 0.540
58 Michael Morse 0.538
59 Dustin Pedroia 0.538
60 Todd Frazier 0.537
61 Jacoby Ellsbury 0.533
62 Torii Hunter 0.533
63 Alex Gordon 0.532
64 Alcides Escobar 0.523
65 Kyle Seager 0.521
66 Billy Butler 0.521
67 Matt Holliday 0.520
68 Adrian Gonzalez 0.519
69 Pablo Sandoval 0.518
70 Chris Young 0.515
71 Andrew McCutchen 0.514
72 Mike Trout 0.508
73 Nick Swisher 0.505
74 Yonder Alonso 0.505
75 Chris Carter 0.505
76 Manny Machado 0.504
77 A.J. Pollock 0.500
78 Everth Cabrera 0.500
79 Yadier Molina 0.495
80 Chris Denorfia 0.49
81 A.J. Pierzynski 0.494
82 Gerardo Parra 0.492
83 Peter Bourjos 0.490
84 Giancarlo Stanton 0.489
85 Austin Jackson 0.488
86 Hunter Pence 0.49
87 Matt Carpenter 0.486
88 Mitch Moreland 0.484
89 Colby Rasmus 0.484
90 Lorenzo Cain 0.48
91 Michael Young 0.480
92 Justin Ruggiano 0.479
93 Daniel Murphy 0.477
94 Albert Pujols 0.475
95 Jose Altuve 0.472
96 Alejandro De Aza 0.471
97 Kendrys Morales 0.470
98 Adrian Beltre 0.467
99 Brandon Phillips 0.467
100 Jayson Werth 0.467

Thanks to my 300 level statistics class at Vassar, I’ve learned the wonders of the Export Data function on Fangraphs and Baseball Reference.  Thus, the quality and speed of my research should improve.  The above list represents the top 100 for all Major Leaguers who are on pace to qualify.  As I typically do, I’ll use this as a vehicle to discuss some of the surprises.

First, Dexter Fowler.  Fowler made a terrific catch last night at Dodger Stadium, which is what he is supposed to do.  But what is more exciting for Rockies fans are his eight home runs and .303 average.  Considering Fowler’s previous career high in homers was 13 last year, I imagine that the home run pace is a bit of a mirage, but this marks the second straight year that Fowler would hit over .300.

Nate McLouth is not a name that makes Braves fans very happy, but he’s found a new home in Baltimore.  The Oriole has stolen nine bags and sits 10th in our SPP standings.  So by this measure, Nate McLouth has been the 10th most valuable offensive contributor so far this season.  Let that simmer.

Andrew McCutchen and Mike Trout were SPP superstars last year, but are currently in the Pablo Sandoval range (70ish).  (Remember that this is a stat that values steals.)  Both have struggled to this point, though Trout hit a homerun yesterday.

Hopefully you like my little stat, and remember that steals do count for something.  I miss you Dee Gordon.

-Sean Morash

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