Points Leagues – Dumpin’ Dimes And Taking Names

After a week off to spend some much-needed time with the fam over Easter, I’m back and ready to get back to work.  The last time we saw each other, we looked through a number of advanced analytics to determine which contributed best to scoring points.  We did find one, remember “Kumite”?  If not, you can check out the whole analysis HERE.

For this effort, we’re going to focus on just one.  I did a deep dive on this analytic almost two years ago, but not specifically for Points leagues.  If you feel inclined, you can reread that masterpiece HERE.  Funny story on that one, Grey said the title almost made him spit out his food.  CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

So, what is this one shining analytic we’re going to focus on today?  It’s none other than wRC+.

Weighted Runs Created…Plus

Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) is a statistic that attempts to credit a hitter for the value of each outcome (single, double, etc.) rather than treating all hits or times on base equally, while also controlling for park effects and the current run environment.

wRC+ is scaled so that league average is 100 each year, and every point above or below 100 is equal to one percentage point better or worse than the league average. In theory, this makes wRC+ a better representation of offensive value than AVE, RBI, OPS, or WOBA.

The calculation for wRC+ is anything but simple.  See…

I’m not going to get into it again here, but go back to that 2023 article where I go through it all.

Remember, though, the intent of wRC+ is to measure a batter’s value using a cumulative statistic that credits a player for total production rather than a per at bat basis.  It combines analytics that credit a hitter for how valuable each particular action truly is with the counting stats that give players credit for producing at a given level over a larger number of PA.

Our goal today is to see how that translates to Points league scoring.  So, let’s jump right into the current numbers.

It’s not all that surprising to see this NY duo at the top of the current wRC+ rankings.  I mean, they are two of the top power hitters in the game, right?  While that may be true, they currently rank 6^th and 20^th, respectively, in HRs.  So, that means a strong wRC+ doesn’t necessarily rely all that heavily on HRs.  Ironically, the only two hitters with double-digit HRs, The Big Dumper and Bolibomba Suarez, are 20^th and 40^th, respectively, in wRC+.

Truth be told, wRC+ lines up much better with analytics like OBP than power.  The top 6 in wRC+ are also amongst the top 9 in OBP.  Yet only 5 of the top 15 Points league scorers are also in the top 15 in OBP.  I’m sliding down a rabbit hole here and can continue to go down all day, so I’d better stop while I’m ahead.

Getting back to wRC+…

Of the top 15 point scorers, 8 players in the top 15 are also on the wRC+ list.  That’s also:

• 34 of the top 50
• 89 of the top 100

Remember, I’m using RazzSlam scoring, which gives only 2 points for categories like R and RBI.  So, the specific findings may be a little different in your scoring formats, especially how you weigh those categories in relation to HR and SB.

Before I move on, though, just one more thing (I just can’t help myself).  In the last article, we found pretty good correlation between WAR and Points league scoring.  So, now I have two questions:

• Is the WAR trend still holding after a couple more weeks?
• How do WAR and wRC+ line up?

For the first question, yes, the trend is still holding.  We find 7 of the top 15 in WAR, including 5 of the top 6, are our current points-per-game leaders.  That’s also:

• 35 of the top 50
• 87 of the top 100

For the second question, we see similar trends with 8 players in the top 15 on both lists.  That’s also:

• 39 of the top 50
• 87 of the top 100

To sum up this exercise today, I’d say we have another useful analytic to put in our bucket!

Where We Are Going

I’ll close this session with another quick-hitter on “Where We Are Going” this week.  For those of you looking ahead (that should be ALL of us), this tool is made just for you.  That’s right, Rudy has put together a projection sheet looking at the week ahead and providing relative Points league scoring for general CBS, ESPN, Fantrax, and Yahoo leagues.  This table is updated on Friday-Monday mornings to reflect the upcoming Monday-Sunday baseball week.

For those with a visual preference, as an example, here’s what it looks like, sorted for Fantrax leagues:

Pretty cool, huh?

Here is a snapshot of Razzball’s top 15 players for the week of April 28:

Summary

Again, these exercises are meant to encourage you to look at the full arsenal of weapons at your fantasy baseball disposal.  I subscribe to the notion that all of the available analytics have value, but some are just more useful than others.  Let’s use them.

No matter your baseball flavor, Razzball has you covered.  Simply go to the Razzball Roto Deluxe Homepage and get started.

As always, you can find me on Twitter/X (@Derek_Favret) and on BlueSky (@dfavret.bsky.social).

Until next time, my friends!