Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is once again at the top of the National League with the most runs batted in with 95. Since 2006, Howard has driven in 775 runs, 93 more than the closest player, Albert Pujols.
Theres no doubt that Howards at-bats lead to a lot of runs for the Phillies, but how much does this tell us about Howard and how much does this tell us about his teammates?
One goal of sabermetrics is to separate the effects of teammates from our evaluation of a players performance. Based on sabermetric stats, Howard does not appear to be the elite hitter that his R.B.I. totals imply. One quick (and mostly accurate) evaluation of offensive ability is O.P.S. (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), which combines a players ability to get on base (score runs) with his ability to move runners around the bases with power (drive in runs).
Among N.L. batters who have qualified for the batting title entering the weekend, Howards .831 O.P.S. was just 23rd in the league. Among N.L. first basemen, he ranked seventh, below average for the 12 qualifying players.
In fact, if we look at a wide array of sabermetric measures, Howard never cracks the top 10 and is typically well down in the pack. And this is just considering hitting. If we combine hitting, defense and base running, WAR (wins above replacement) rated him as the seventh-best player on the Phillies this year.
Entering the weekend, Howards on-base percentage was seventh best and his slugging percentage was sixth best among the 10 most common cleanup hitters in the majors. Howard has significantly more outs made than his counterparts because of his low on-base percentage and because he is consistently in the lineup.
To answer why Howard has so many R.B.I., we need to dig a little deeper and consider the context of his at-bats.
Howard benefits significantly from the quality of the hitters ahead of him in the batting order. Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and, to a lesser extent, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco all have strong on-base percentages. Through Wednesday, the Phillies 1-3 hitters reached base 547 times, the eighth most in the majors. But as a group, they ranked 17th in extra-base hits, so they get on base but leave more runners for Howard to drive in.
By comparison, the Boston Red Sox No. 1 through No. 3 hitters were first in reaching base, but are better at driving themselves in by ranking second in extra-base hits. Bostons No. 3 hitter, Adrian Gonzalez, the American League R.B.I. leader for much of the season, is the only player to have more runners on base than Howard this season.
This is not just a recent phenomenon. Since 2006, Howard had 2,815 runners on base, well ahead of the runner-up, Mark Teixeira, with 2,689.
Howard is good at what he does. When a runner is on base, he can bring him home, but the problem with R.B.I. is that they give too much of the credit to the hitter and not enough to the player driven in.
While Howard is not yet getting consistent M.V.P. buzz this season, his four consecutive top-five finishes bring to mind a similar player from the late 1990s who had a strong run of M.V.P. voting: Rangers outfielder Juan Gonzalez. He drove in 140 runs a year from 1996 to 1999 and grabbed the 1996 and 1998 M.V.P. awards despite not finishing in the top 10 in WAR either year. After joining Detroit in 2000, Gonzalez slumped to 67 R.B.I., in part because of Comerica Parks expansive outfield and the Tigers mediocre lineup.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/sports/baseball/an-rbi-leader-but-not-an-elite-hitter.html