RPI Index All Stars – AL and NL

By Ryan McGowan

I devised a system of ranking players in each league based on their relative standing within their league in ten offensive categories: batting average, home runs, runs batted in, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, bases on balls, doubles, stolen bases, runs, and hits.  I then looked to the inspiration of the college football and basketball polls for the scoring system; a first-place ranking in any one of the categories gets a player 10 points, a second-place ranking is worth 9, all the way down to 1 point for a tenth place ranking in their league.
With this system, you can tell which players are having truly epic seasons; for example, a score of 100 would indicate that the player was leading the league in all ten categories.  The closer a player gets to 100 points, the closer he gets to pure dominance across the board.  Of course, since that isn’t possible, we will have to determine which scores represent which levels of hierarchy in the baseball world.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

C – Joe Mauer, Minnesota (27 points)

It helps when you are leading the league in batting average.  The only other catcher in either league to even show up on any Top 10 list was A.J. Pierzynski of the White Sox.

1B – Jason Giambi, New York (33 points)

Outside of Giambi, an uncharacteristically weak crop of first basemen in the A.L., with Justin Morneau (14) and Mark Teixeira (10) the only other ones with double digit scores.

2B – Mark Loretta, Boston (5 points)

Loretta actually tied with Robinson Cano, Mark DeRosa, and Brian Roberts, none of whom placed in the top 10 in more than one category.  With that in mind, we defer to Loretta because (1) I am a shameless homer and (2) the fans voted Loretta in to start the All-Star Game for the Junior Circuit.

SS – Derek Jeter, New York (27 points)

Jeter is top 10 in only four categories, which means he averages 3rd in the league on those lists.  He beats out Michael Young of the Rangers by 8 points.

3B – Mike Lowell, Boston (10 points)

Lowell makes the squad by virtue of his league-leading 31 doubles (tied with Teixeira and Young), although the Angels’ Chone Figgins racked up 10 points as well by leading the league with 33 stolen bases.  Lowell’s superior defense and power numbers (as well as his Red Sox uniform) give him the edge over Figgins.  Alex Rodriguez and Troy Glaus check in with only 5 points apiece.

OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle (33 points); Manny Ramirez, Boston (30 points), Jermaine Dye, Chicago (21 points)

A very competitive outfield crop sees these three take the top spots, each of whom placed in five categories apiece.  Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore (20), Texas’s Gary Matthews Jr. (17), and Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford (15) are the runners-up.  Just for the record, my colleague JDWC’s choice for AL MVP (and criticized by me), Vernon Wells of the Blue Jays, managed to collect a total of 8 points, good for 11th place among AL outfielders.

DH – Travis Hafner, Cleveland (56 points)

This is by far the most competitive position in the American League.  Hafner is having a tremendous season, placing in the top 10 in seven categories, including leading in both on-base percentage and walks.  Coming up behind him are Chicago’s Jim Thome (46) and Boston’s David Ortiz (38), both of whom have enough points to easily lead at any other position.  But Hafner’s breadth of top 10 placements give him easily the highest score of any player in either league.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

1B – Albert Pujols, St. Louis (45 points)

Pujols, like Hafner, has a top-10 in seven different categories, leading in slugging and home runs while placing second in RBI and OBP.  The Dodgers’ Nomar Garciaparra rides his batting average lead to 22 points and second place, while Washington’s Nick Johnson (20) and the Phillies’ Ryan Howard (19) are close behind.

2B – Chase Utley, Philadelphia (19 points)

This is a very easy one for Utley, as the second place finisher was Houston’s Craig Biggio with 6 points.  Utley is the only second baseman in either league with top 10 finishes in multiple categories.

SS – Jose Reyes, New York (29 points)

Reyes’ 29 points are even more amazing when you consider that he only placed in three categories, taking first place in runs scored and stolen bases (and would have led in triples had I selected it as a category) and a second place in hits (one behind Matt Holliday).  Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins is a surprising second place with 16 points, with the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins checking in with 13.

3B – Miguel Cabrera, Florida (30 points)

Cabrera placed in six categories, but is no higher than third in the league in any single category.  Surprisingly, the Pirates’ Freddy Sanchez takes second place with 24 points, which was the highest total of any National League runner-up, earning Sanchez the nod as designated hitter for the lineup.  (Let’s pretend the game was played in an AL ballpark.)  Sanchez came in ahead of the Mets’ David Wright (19) and the Cardinals’ Scott Rolen (18).

OF – Matt Holliday, Colorado (35 points); Lance Berkman, Houston (29 points); Carlos Beltran, New York (26 points)

Holliday is the surprising leader here, taking first place in both hits and doubles (tied with Johnson and Sanchez).  Berkman and Beltran are both expected to be here, edging out Bobby Abreu, whose 21 points are greatly helped by his first place standing in walks and on-base percentage.  Adam Dunn (16), Alfonso Soriano (14), Carlos Lee (13), and Juan Pierre (12) round out the runners-up.

C – Paul LoDuca, New York (0 points)

No National League catchers show up in the top 10 in any of the sample categories.  So I’ll go with the guy the fans chose to start in Pittsburgh.

LINEUPS

With these rosters in tow, let’s look at the would-be All-Star lineups

A.L.

1.Ichiro rf
2.Jeter ss
3.Mauer c
4.Hafner dh
5.Ramirez lf
6.Giambi 1b
7.Dye cf
8.Lowell 3b
9.Loretta 2b

N.L.

1.Reyes ss
2.Utley 2b
3.Pujols 1b
4.Beltran cf
5.Cabrera 3b
6.Berkman rf
7.Holliday lf
8.Sanchez dh
9.LoDuca c