Positional Projected Percentiles: Part I

PBR - Positional Projected Percentiles (or P3) is a metric I created that offers a visual look at how a given player compares offensively to others at a specific position. The metric examines four unique sabermetric statistics (Total Power Quotient, Hoban Effectiveness Quotient, Runs Created and Secondary Average) and graphs the results of the player against the league positional average.

I used projections for 2012 from TG Fantasy Baseball and sorted the players by position. I removed players that did not have at least 200 at-bats and then calculated positional averages.  Lastly, I calculated  the four sabermetric numbers and ranked the players from best to worst in each category. The best number in each category was given 100% and all other numbers were divided by that top number. This provides the percentile numbers that are used in the graphics.

As an example, let's look at the catcher position.

The positional average TPQ was .572 (found by figuring the average totals of all C's in data with min. 200 at-bats, then finding TPQ of those figures) while the best individual TPQ belonged to Mike Napoli at .789. Taking the positional average of .572 and dividing by Napoli's .789 you get 72% - meaning the positional average is in the 72-percentile.

The projected positional average percentile is shaded behind the actual player's projected percentile. This provides the viewer an easy way to compare how a player compares to others at his given position.

The formulas for the categories:

• TPQ = (HR + TB + RB) / AB
• HEQ = TB + R + RBI + SB + .5 x BB
• RC = ((H + BB) * TB) / AB + BB
• Secondary Average = TB - H + BB + SB - CS / AB

Today we look at the infield and catcher positions:

 

 

 

I'll post the P3's for the outfield and bench next week.