The Astros are among the top clubs in the National League at getting runners on base. Their 13.84 baserunners per game trail only Colorado’s 14.41 and San Diego’s 14.11. With so many ducks on the pond, Astros sluggers have had ample chances to build their RBI totals.
Indeed, Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman, and Richard Hidalgo are all in the top 20 in the league in RBI, with Moises Alou, who started the season late due to injury, in the top 30. No other National League team has more than three players ranked as high as the Houston quartet.
The Astros are middle of the pack in runs per time on base, though. Houston has scored 38.7 percent of its runners reaching base by hit, walk, or hit by pitch. That ranks the Astros seventh, well behind Colorado’s league-leading 44.0 percent. The Astros are also runner-up in left on base per game at 7.44, trailing San Diego’s 7.75.
This inefficiency is largely a result of poor situational hitting. The Astros are actually decent overall with runners on base, batting .277, but that breaks down into .318 with runners just on first base and .248 with runners in scoring position. The Astros are 14th in the league in that category.
When it comes to runners in scoring position, only Alou is really hot, ranking third in the league. Everyone else, with the exception of Daryle Ward, is lukewarm or worse:
None Runners Scoring Player On On Position -------------------------------- Alou .379 .420 .429 Ausmus .221 .200 .167 Bagwell .275 .289 .294 Berkman .364 .357 .289 Biggio .278 .333 .250 Hidalgo .210 .338 .265 Lugo .327 .170 .176 Ward .302 .294 .320 -------------------------------- Team .266 .277 .248
How does that situational hitting translate into runs? The table below shows the RBI opportunities of each of Houston’s regular players as well as super-sub Ward.
Player Self 1st 2nd 3rd Opp RBI Pct --------------------------------------------- Alou 117 39 22 13 191 26 13.61 Berkman 147 55 30 14 246 32 13.01 Bagwell 157 63 25 15 260 32 12.31 Ward 77 21 19 14 131 16 12.21 Hidalgo 145 61 42 23 271 32 11.81 Lugo 159 26 27 18 230 17 7.39 Biggio 163 33 25 8 229 14 6.11 Ausmus 128 42 32 15 217 8 3.69
Every at-bat is counted as an RBI opportunity, with each runner on base during those at-bats also counted. Plate appearances resulting in a walk, hit by pitch, or sacrifice hit are excluded, except in cases when one of those events drives in a run.
Not surprisingly, Alou leads the team, with Berkman, Bagwell, Ward, and Hidalgo trailing. Alou’s advantage is not as large as his advantage in situational hitting might indicate, though. Given the same number of opportunities as Berkman, Bagwell, and Hidalgo, at his present percentage Alou would drive two, three, and five more runs, respectively.
The slugger taking least advantage of his opportunities is Hidalgo. Not only is Hidalgo’s conversion rate lowest among the heavy hitters, but it should be even greater given that he has had the highest percentage of his RBI opportunities composed of runners on base and, with the exception of Ward, of runners in scoring position:
On Scoring Player Base Position ----------------------- Alou 38.7 18.3 Berkman 40.2 17.9 Bagwell 39.6 15.4 Ward 41.2 25.2 Hidalgo 46.5 24.0
Indeed, batting behind Bagwell, Berkman, and Alou, Hidalgo has had runners on base in 56 percent and runners in scoring position in 31 percent of his at-bats. The comparable numbers are 43 percent and 22 percent for Alou, 49 percent and 20 percent for Bagwell, 48 percent and 23 percent for Berkman, and 44 percent and 27 percent for Ward.
Hidalgo is having another fine season but has yet to really heat up. With runners on base in more than half and runners in scoring position in almost a third of his at-bats, if he catches fire Hidalgo could make a sizeable dent in those left-on-base totals plaguing the Astros thus far in 2001.