The Best Hitters in the NL Central

One of the best ways to measure a hitter is adjusted OPS, or OPS+. If you already know what OPS+ is, I am sorry, bear with me. If not, you should pay attention. While standard OPS is simply on-base percentage plus slugging percentage (OBP + SLG), adjusted OPS is a complicated formula that takes into consideration ballpark factor (sorry Vinny Castilla) and league averages for OBP and SLG in that players league. The resulting number is the rate above the league average expressed as a percentage. All you really need to know is 100 always represents the league average. The higher above 100, the better. The farther under 100, the worse. For example, let's take Albert Pujols in 2008 when he finished with an astronomical 190 OPS+. Albert was damn near close to being twice as productive as the average major league hitter. The only player with a career OPS+ over 200 is Babe Ruth (207). Albert is tied for seventh in career OPS+ (170).

Here are the highest OPS+ seasons for the NL Central in 2007 and 2008 including everyone over 100 with at least a 400 AB season (sorry Jerry Hairston Jr.).

	2008				2007
1	A. Pujols	190		1	A. Pujols	157
2	L. Berkman	159		2	P. Fielder	156
3	R. Ludwick	150		3	R. Braun	153
4	C. Lee	144		4	A. Dunn	136
5	T. Glaus	131		T5	L. Berkman	131
6	A. Dunn	129		T5	D. Lee	131
T7	A. Ramirez	128		7	H. Pence	130
T7	P. Fielder	128		8	A. Ramirez	129
T7	R. Braun	128		T9	C. Hart	126
T7	R. Doumit	128		T9	C. Lee	126
11	N. McLouth	126		11	A. Soriano	123
12	J. Votto	124		12	K. Griffey Jr	119
13	A. LaRoche	123		T13	R. Weeks	108
14	A. Soriano	121		T13	A. LaRoche	108
15	G. Soto	120		15	X. Nady	107
16	R. Ankiel	119		T16	B. Phillips	105
17	M. DeRosa	118		T16	J. Wilson	105
18	J. Hardy	113		18	F. Sanchez	103
T19	M. Cameron	110		19	M. DeRosa	102
T19	D. Lee	110		20	E. Encarnac…	101
T21	E. Encarnac…	106		21	G. Jenkins	101
T21	K. Matsui	106		22	J. Hardy	100
23	H. Pence	105
24	S. Schumach..	102
25	K. Griffey Jr.	101

Some things that come to mind...

• Albert Pujols is a destroyer of all things spherical.
• Is Ryan Ludwick really that good?
• Adam Dunn was one of the Top 5 most productive hitters in the NL Central.
• Joey Votto had a very good rookie year and should only get better.
• Brandon Phillips finished with a rather low OPS+ for his breakthrough year, lower than Rickie Weeks and tied with Jack Wilson, who resembles Nosferatu.
• Well I'll be a monkey's ass, is that Edwin Encarnacion on there, twice? Are we treating poor Edwin unfairly?
• He might have been aging and crippled, but Junior was still an above average producer at the plate in his waning Reds years.
• Why is Derrek Lee's name auburn-colored? I hate formatting text.

And just for fun, the highest career OPS+ players active...
1. Barry Bonds (182)
2. Albert Pujols (170)
3. Frank Thomas (156)
4. Manny Ramirez (155)
5. Lance Berkman (148)
5. Jim Thome (148)
7. Vladimir Guerrero (147)
7. Alex Rodriguez (147)
9. Jason Giambi (146)
10. Chipper Jones (145)

The Best Pitching Seasons of the Past *15 Years (Starters)

Jose Rijo takes the cake with this one. I cheated and stretched the list to 16 years to get him in. In 1993, Jose went nuts on National League batters, posting a 2.48 ERA and 227 SOs in 257 IP. But because Jose only went 14-9, he placed 5th in Cy Young voting behind four 20-game winners (in order, Greg Maddux-ATL, Bill Swift-SF, Tom Glavine-ATL and John Burkett-SF), even though Jose finished 2nd in ERA, 1st in SOs, 1st in SOs/9IP and 1st in games started. This is a dazzling example of the irrelevancy of a pitcher's Win-Loss record. Swift, Glavine and Burkett had excellent years, but they were surrounded by better players. Atlanta won 104. San Fran won 103. Cincinnati won 73. To the victor goes the spoils. Do I sound bitter?

Here are the next best individual seasons for a Reds starting pitcher since 1993...

	Player	Year	GS	IP	ERA	W-L	SO
2	E. Volquez	2008	33	196	3.21	17-6	206
3	B. Arroyo	2006	35	240.7	3.29	14-11	184
4	E.Dessens	2002	30	178	3.03	7-8	93
5	P. Harnisch	1998	32	209	3.14	14-7	157
6	J. Rijo	1994	26	172.3	3.08	9-6	171
7	P. Schourek	1995	29	190.3	3.22	18-7	160
8	A.Harang	2007	34	231.7	3.73	16-6	208
9	A.Harang	2006	36	234.3	3.76	16-11	216
10	P. Harnisch	1999	33	198.3	3.68	16-10	120

Some things to think about...
A.) Edinson's year made it a tad easier to let go of Josh Hamilton.
B.) Bronson can be really, really good, or so, so terrible.
C.) How do you post a 3.03 ERA in 30 games and go 7-8. Oh, I know--because you pitched during the Dark Ages in 2002 when our best offensive season came from Austin Kearns in limited action.
D.) Even in Aaron Harang's good years, he still flirted with a 4.00 ERA.
E.) The Reds have not had good pitching in a long time.

The Best Offensive Seasons of the Past 15 Years

Hands down, the best offensive season of the past fifteen years came from a man named Kevin "I Don't Need No Stinkin' Glove" Mitchell in the strike-shortened 1994 season. The Reds finished 66-48 in 104 games and were not given a chance to win the World Series (figures). Mitchell was on pace for 47 Dongs, 121 RBIs, a .326 BA, .429 OBP and 681 SLG!!! But this season just wasn't meant to be. Mitchell finished the year with 310 ABs, 30 Dongs and 77 RBIs, with his averages staying the same. Not too shabby for two-thirds of a year.

Sidenote: Legend has it that during the Mets 1986 Championship run, Kevin Mitchell decapitated his girlfriend's cat. This is according to Doc Gooden's autobiography Heat. Gooden says he was held hostage during the situation.

Moving on, here are the next best individual offensive seasons since 1994...

	Player	Year	AB	BA	OBP	SLG	PROD	HR	RBI	SB
2	B. Larkin	1996	517	.298	.410	.567	.977	33	89	36
3	R. Sanders	1995	484	.306	.397	.579	.976	28	99	36
4	A. Dunn	2004	568	.266	.388	.569	.957	46	102	6
5	S. Casey	1999	594	.332	.399	.539	.938	25	99	0
6	B. Larkin	1995	496	.319	.394	.492	.886	15	66	51
7	S. Casey	2004	571	.324	.381	.534	.915	24	99	2
8	K. Griffey	2000	520	.271	.387	.556	.943	40	118	6
9	K. Griffey	2005	491	.301	.369	.576	.945	35	92	0
10	A. Dunn	2007	522	.264	.386	.554	.940	40	106	9
11	A. Dunn	2005	543	.247	.387	.540	.927	40	101	5
12	B. Larkin	1998	538	.309	.397	.504	.901	17	72	26
13	S. Casey	2000	480	.315	.385	.517	.902	20	85	1
14	E. Davis	1996	415	.287	.394	.523	.917	26	83	23

RBIs and Stolen Bases are cut off on this chart. Larkin had 36, 51 and 26 steals respectively. Sanders had 36. Davis had 23. The only +100 RBI seasons on the list came from Dunn (102, 106, 101) and Griffey (118). Casey had 99 RBIs twice. So close.

Some things that come to mind...
A.) Barry Larking was amazing (Brandon Phillips who?)
B.) Reggie Sanders and Eric Davis were my favorites growing up.
C.) Adam Dunn gets no respect.
D.) When healthy*, Griff was the best player on the team (*unlucky bastard).
E.) Sean Casey was a good hitter, and a huge dork.