Let's look at the numbers which support my argument: This season Barry Bonds has been the best hitter in the NL. At age 42.

Bonds leads the National League in the following categories:

OBP - .517 - Second place is Todd Helton who does not count due to playing for the Rockies so the real second place is Albert Pujols (who has rebounded nicely from his poor start) at .417, a full 100 points behind Bonds. That's an incredible domination of one of baseball's most important statistics. Bonds also leads all AL hitters in OBP by a wide margin. Bonds has been so incredibly good 2001 through 2004 that people aren't as shocked by his ridiculous numbers anymore, but they are still that: ridiculous. A .517 OBP is just absolutely ridiculous. He makes everyone else look like a little leaguer. He is truly a God amongst men when it comes to hitting a baseball.

SLG - .614 - Much was made of Bonds' struggles in May but he's leading the national league in slugging percentage. Read that again and think about it. This 42 (turning 43) year old man is leading the league in slugging percentage. Only A-Rod in the AL has a higher SLG.

OPS - 1.132 - Obviously leading in the two components of this stat he also leads in OPS and by a healthy margin. Second place? Again it's a Rockie (Matt Holliday) so we'll have to go to 3rd place for someone whose stats we can respect, Chipper Jones. Jones is at 0.986, nearly 150 points behind Bonds. Bonds also tops the entire major leagues in OPS.

BB - 86 - Of course Bonds also leads MLB in walks.

IBB - 30

RC/27 - 12.27 - Bonds leads MLB in this Sabermetric statistic by a wide margin. According to this statistic a team of 9 Barry Bonds would average 12.27 runs per game. Obviously the Giants are not a team of Barry Bonds. You can definitely argue this calculation as of course a team of Barry Bonds would not get walked so often but on the other hand they would also have to be pitched to very well (ie throw strikes) because it's not like you can pitch around one Bonds to get to another one. Hell 12.27 might be low.

SECA - .772 - Another Sabermetric stat that Bonds dominates. It's defined as: "A way to look at a player's extra bases gained, independent of Batting Average" and it's calculated TB - H + BB + SB - CS) / AB

BB/K - 2.69 - If K/BB are such an important stat to pitchers this is also an interesting stat to look at from a hitting perspective. Bonds has dominated this stat in the past. In 2004 he had a 5.66 BB/K ratio.

HR/AB % - 8.629 - He's barely ahead of Prince Fielder who is at 8.626, I think this maybe the most surprising stat to those who just look at the totals and see Bonds with 17 home runs vs Fielder's 27. Yes, but Fielder has 313 at bats vs. Bonds 197. No hitter in the NL thus far has been more likely to hit a home run when given a pitch to hit than Barry Bonds. This is why baseball is still so scared of him and why he still gets intentionally walked so much (along with the weak Giants lineup.) A-Rod does lead the majors in this stat at 9.15%. BTW I do think A-Rod has been a better hitter than Bonds this year which is why this is titled the best hitter in the NL rather than in MLB. But I would not be surprised at all if Bonds surpasses Rodriguez in the second half of the season. Bonds generally finishes stronger than he starts, we'll see if that trend holds up as he turns 43 years old.

For those traditionalists out there who will point out that Bonds is only 34th in Runs scored and 40th in RBI in the NL: To you I ask so what? Those counting stats are team/situation dependent statistics that are completely irrelevant when assessing a hitter's skill. Why should Bonds be penalized for being in a piss poor lineup? It doesn't make any sense. I will admit that the Giants' less than stellar lineup does help to boost his OBP but I also believe if he had better hitters in the lineup with him he would have a higher HR% and SLG as he would be getting more pitches to hit and he would be able to get into a better groove as a hitter. He would also obviously have many more RBI and runs (and home runs.) His runs numbers are lowered further because he is often replaced by a pinch runner when he gets on base towards the end of the game.

Labels: Barry Bonds