Player of the Game Results 2011

Anyone who has read the blog over the past year knows that I have an equation for finding out who the ‘Player of the Game’ in each game. The updated career standings can be found here. I feel that my equation is a pretty accurate when discussing any players performance over any length of time. One cool thing about this stat is that I can split it encompasses every aspect of the game and can be split up into those different parts. Here are the final totals for the 2011 Cleveland Indians:

GP = Games Played, Offense = Total Offensive Score, Defense = Total Defensive Score, Pitching = Total Pitching Score, Total = All 3 Scores Together, PPG = Average Score Per Game, POG = Number of Awards Won In 2011.

Like you might expect, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana were the teams top offensive performers of the season while Justin Masterson lead all pitchers. Note that almost every player has a negative defensive score. This is due to the fact that unearned runs count against the player who made the error, rather than the pitcher. This is why Lonnie Chisenhall has such a poor score for the season. A large part of his offensive score was made irrelevant by his many costly errors. Catcher scores are also very low in defense as most (but not all) stolen bases are counted against them.

While the chart above is interesting, it doesn’t tell the whole tale. In the next chart I split the numbers again. This time between wins and losses. Players performances during wins can tell more about how much they helped the team during the season. 

W Total = POG Score In Wins, Wins = # of Wins Played In, PPGWin = Points Per Game in Wins, POGWin = Awards Won In Wins.

Starting pitchers have the largest disparity between winning games and losing them, because they are the most crucial players on the field while they are playing. Especially sticking out in this case are Carlos Carrasco, David Huff and Ubaldo Jimenez, all who had per game scores of around 5 while pitching during wins and negative scores during losses. Justin Masterson’s much more even numbers between wins and losses shows he is better at keeping his team in every game, but the other pitchers were more likely to actually win the game when they played well.

Asdrubal stands out on this chart as well as he increases his points per game significantly during wins, showing that when he plays better, the Indians play better. This is not true about everyone as some players, like Ezequiel Carrera, Jason Donald and Cord Phelps, didn’t see their averages change much between wins and losses.Cabrera also led the team in the only ‘Player of the Game’ awards that really matter, the ones that happen during wins.