Bill James' Runs Created formula (and by extension, Win Shares) credits batters with an additional runs created for each hit and homer they hit with men on base, beyond how many he would have been expected to have based on his overall batting average/home run rate and number of at bats with men on base. It has been about twenty-five years since James added this situational component to the formula, so I don’t recall the exact explanation, but I believe he found that making these adjustments at the team level improved the accuracy of the runs created formula.
This is a great point, and I think it applies to some efforts to use WPA and similar metrics to measure player value as well. When offensive events cluster to a team's advantage (or disadvantage), why should only the back end players be credited/debited?
To take Bill's favorite example, Dave Parker led the NL in runs created in 1978, in part because he hit very well with men on base (and RISP). But it's also true that Moreno (45%) and Taveras (38%) finished 1st and 8th in the league in frequency of scoring when not hitting a HR (RS%). Why not reward them for getting on base as such propitious times?
And to the extent that LH hitters like Parker so benefit from having a runner on 1B, why give that credit to Parker rather than the player who gave him that edge?
This is a great point, and I think it applies to some efforts to use WPA and similar metrics to measure player value as well. When offensive events cluster to a team's advantage (or disadvantage), why should only the back end players be credited/debited?
To take Bill's favorite example, Dave Parker led the NL in runs created in 1978, in part because he hit very well with men on base (and RISP). But it's also true that Moreno (45%) and Taveras (38%) finished 1st and 8th in the league in frequency of scoring when not hitting a HR (RS%). Why not reward them for getting on base as such propitious times?
And to the extent that LH hitters like Parker so benefit from having a runner on 1B, why give that credit to Parker rather than the player who gave him that edge?