Derek Jeter has already had a historical season as at the age of 37 he became the fastest Yankee ever to reach 50 hits.  Jeter continues to pad his illustrious resume to be a first ballot Hall of Famer as he passed Robin Yount on Monday when he got his 3,143^rd career hit standing alone at 17^th all-time and is poised to pass Paul Waner soon.  Barring any injuries (which given the Yankees current case of the injury bug would be disastrous) Jeter, in my opinion, will pass Orioles legend Eddie Murray and stand at 12^th all-time, right behind Willie Mays (3,283 career hits).

We’re covering OPS+ this week and to refresh your memory, it is a version of On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS) that grades all batters on the same scale which adjusts for park factors and measures a player’s adjusted OPS against the league average of 100.  As we saw, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp each had an extraordinary OPS+ last year with Braun at 166 or 66% better than league average and Kemp at 171 an adjusted OPS 71% better than league average.

Remember that OPS+ should be viewed on a season to season basis as the league average On-Base Percentage (OBP) and Slugging Percentage (SLG) changes from year to year.  Last week we looked at the WHIP of David Wells in 1998 (coincidentally enough today is the 14^th anniversary of his perfect game) and with all of the coverage Bryce Harper has received recently as he is the future face of MLB, let’s look back at the OPS+ of the former future faces of MLB Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra in 1997.  Jeter was coming off the 1996 Rookie of the Year Award and posted an OPS+ of 103, A-Rod had an OPS+ of 120 while still on the Seattle Mariners and Nomar posted an OPS+ of 123.  These numbers weren’t other worldly but the prediction of these three players becoming among the best in baseball during their careers was spot on.

Finally, to give the American League its fair shake, the two most valuable players last year in the league not named Justin Verlander according to Baseball Writers Association of America were Jacoby Ellsbury and Jose Bautista.  Bautista posted an OPS+ last year of 180, good for tops in the majors, while Ellsbury had a break out year and posted an OPS+ of 147 which is excellent but nowhere near the OPS+ that Bautista put up.

Make sure to check out the LoveMyTeam Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LoveMyTeamTalk and discuss this week’s statistic!

For those of you who don’t live in the Northeast, you may have no idea about this headline, but on Tuesday night, Terry Collins, manager of the Mets, pinch hit for David Wright because he feared his star player would get hit by the Brewers pitcher in retaliation for a pitch that hit Brewers star Ryan Braun.  Wright would have been the player who should have gotten the pitch in the middle of the back, but Collins, in theory, diffused the situation by removing the threat.  He did, however, incite his star player.  Wright was furious that he didn’t have the opportunity to literally take one for the team.

Wright is always impressive.  Here he knew quickly what to expect when he stepped into the batters box, and he knew it was his job as the elder statesman (how did that happen) to allow himself to get hit.  Seeing that would be an impressive example for the younger members of the team.  But Collins didn’t let Wright set that example.

For his part, Collins didn’t trust the pitcher to actually hit David in the back or the leg.  He didn’t trust these new young pitchers with old school baseball.  He wasn’t saying Wright shouldn’t get hit, he was just saying he shouldn’t get hurt.  And he was being the bigger manager.

This old school code of hitting a batter on the other team if the other team hits one of yours comes from a time when pitchers threw less hard, and threw more often.  They had control and experience that these young pitchers with their innings and pitch count limits don’t have.  Sure, Nolan Ryan could hit a batter and everyone could be sure exactly where Nolan Ryan was going to hit that batter.  The same can’t be true for the typical relief pitcher pitching today.

David Wright is the leader of the Mets- sort of like a Todd Helton is on the Rockies.  He showed that he is the leader by actually challenging the manager in the at-bat, and then talking calmly and graciously with the media after.  Collins did the right thing though by protecting the one guy the team must have on the field the next day.  That is where a manager wins games.  It isn’t about today, it is about the season as a whole.

This is where the teams stand at end of play May 15th, nearly a quarter of the way through the season.  Take a look at the standings, and tell me what surprises you!

American League:

National League:

Today’s Contest comes to a courtesy of Athletes in 3d which creates these very very cool, 3D images of some of your favorite players in baseball (and basketball and NASCAR). More than just a photo these images actually seem to move, which makes them come alive in more than just your memory. Very cool stuff. Check out their website, to see what other players they have in stock, and to pick the photo you would want should you win today’s contest. Would it be Joe Mauer? Ryan Howard? Miguel Cabrera?  How about the red-hot Josh Hamilton?  First you have to win.

To win, simply be the first to leave the correct answer in the comment section below. This contest is open to everyone!

Today’s Question: Today marks the first day of Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak in 194.  He would go on to hit in 56 games, ending the streak in July against what current AL Central team?

Josh Hamilton’s tear continues on and now his historical beginning to the 2012 season will be forever enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY as Hamilton’s bat, which already had a sticker on the knob authenticating it for the Hall of Fame after his historic game on Tuesday, broke last night in Texas’ 13-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  Hamilton in this past week alone recorded 9 Home Runs, 8 of which came from this now seemingly magical bat.

We have covered On-Base Percentage (OBP), Slugging Percentage (SLG) and On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS), and now to complete all you need to know about these statistics this week OPS+ will be covered.  While it might seem daunting with the extra plus sign attached at the end, OPS+ isn’t too difficult or convoluted to understand as it measures a player’s On-Base Plus Slugging against the league average.  What is often confusing when looking at a batter’s OPS+ is that OBP, SLG and OPS are measured as a percentage that extends out to the thousandths decimal (1.000), while OPS+ is graded on a scale of 100, with an OPS+ of 100 being the established league average, under 100 being worse than the league average and over 100 being better than the league average OPS.  On this scale an OPS+ of 101 is 1% better than the league average, and 110 is 10% better than league average, while an OPS of 99 is 1% worse than the league average, and 90 is 10% worse than league average, and so on and so on.

OPS+ is an adjusting statistic and should be viewed on a year to year basis.  It adjusts for variables that could strengthen or hinder a player’s OPS, such as ballpark effects, and places all players on an equal playing field to see which batter truly had the most outstanding season in terms of OPS.  When viewing a player’s OPS+, to get an understanding of what is a good or a bad OPS+, according to Wikipedia, “An OPS+ of 150 or more is excellent and 125 very good, while an OPS+ of 75 or below is poor.”

To put this in perspective, the two most valuable players in the National League last year were Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp according to the Baseball Writers Association of America.  Braun had an OPS+ of 166 meaning his adjusted OPS was 66% better than the league average, while Matt Kemp had an OPS+ of 172, an adjusted OPS 72% better than league average.  OPS+ helps show how much better or worse a player is than the league average in terms of OPS, and in the case of Braun and Kemp, OPS+ helped show that what people were watching in both these players was better than excellent.

Don’t forget to check back next Thursday for more player analysis through OPS+ and feel free to ask any questions and talk about this week’s statistic on LoveMyTeam’s Facebook page found at www.facebook.com/LoveMyTeamTalk!