Was looking at some stats from the 2014 Southeastern Conference. Got a spreadsheet of the 89 SEC hitters who batted at least .200 with at least 100 at-bats.
I think ranked them 1-89 based on OPS - on-base average + slugging percentage.
Interesting discovery: Six of the bottom seven are slappers.
I didn't do enough research to see where all the slappers fell. If someone knows the SEC very well and can identify them, let me know. But there aren't many at the top. I can try to post the results if someone is interested.
The highest-rated slapper, as best I can tell, is Kelsey Stewart of Florida - because she doesn't always slap and can hit for power - 27 extra-base hits in 233 at-bats. She's a great player, no doubt about it.
But many slappers don't hit for power. Take Missouri All-American Taylor Gadbois. She hit .421, but had only 6 extra-base hits. Further, she had only 16 walks. Another thing that seems apparent about slappers - Many of them don't draw a lot of walks, I assume because they are fast and pitchers do NOT want them on base, and by pitching to them, they typically are only risking a single. So while they may hit for good average, their on-base PCT is often not as high as you'd think.
Now, in Gadbois' case, she is an incredible base-stealer. She swiped 45. So her value is higher than her on-base average or OPS might suggest. But it's still worth noting that she ranks only 41st in the SEC in OPS and only 16th in on-base average. Heckuva player, but is she just how valuable is she? Should she be 3rd-team all-american when there are 40 other more productive hitters in the SEC based on OPS?
Another case in point is Emily Albus of Texas A&M. She hit .417 - but w/ only 7 extra-base hits, 0 HR. She walked only 9 times. She stole 15 bases, but only 5 in SEC games. Albus rankes 47th in OPS in the conference.
Gadbois and Albus are very good players that any SEC team would want to have. Not here to tear them down.
But when I see 6 slappers in the bottom 7 of OPS, and I don't see any full-time slappers in the top 20 of OPS, I've got to ask the question. Are slappers as valuable as people think? Do slappers sometimes make starting lineups because coaches think they need a slapper when they really need the most productive hitter? Do coaches sometimes think they need to get a slapper in every recruiting class when they should be looking for most productive hitter regardless of style?
I think ranked them 1-89 based on OPS - on-base average + slugging percentage.
Interesting discovery: Six of the bottom seven are slappers.
I didn't do enough research to see where all the slappers fell. If someone knows the SEC very well and can identify them, let me know. But there aren't many at the top. I can try to post the results if someone is interested.
The highest-rated slapper, as best I can tell, is Kelsey Stewart of Florida - because she doesn't always slap and can hit for power - 27 extra-base hits in 233 at-bats. She's a great player, no doubt about it.
But many slappers don't hit for power. Take Missouri All-American Taylor Gadbois. She hit .421, but had only 6 extra-base hits. Further, she had only 16 walks. Another thing that seems apparent about slappers - Many of them don't draw a lot of walks, I assume because they are fast and pitchers do NOT want them on base, and by pitching to them, they typically are only risking a single. So while they may hit for good average, their on-base PCT is often not as high as you'd think.
Now, in Gadbois' case, she is an incredible base-stealer. She swiped 45. So her value is higher than her on-base average or OPS might suggest. But it's still worth noting that she ranks only 41st in the SEC in OPS and only 16th in on-base average. Heckuva player, but is she just how valuable is she? Should she be 3rd-team all-american when there are 40 other more productive hitters in the SEC based on OPS?
Another case in point is Emily Albus of Texas A&M. She hit .417 - but w/ only 7 extra-base hits, 0 HR. She walked only 9 times. She stole 15 bases, but only 5 in SEC games. Albus rankes 47th in OPS in the conference.
Gadbois and Albus are very good players that any SEC team would want to have. Not here to tear them down.
But when I see 6 slappers in the bottom 7 of OPS, and I don't see any full-time slappers in the top 20 of OPS, I've got to ask the question. Are slappers as valuable as people think? Do slappers sometimes make starting lineups because coaches think they need a slapper when they really need the most productive hitter? Do coaches sometimes think they need to get a slapper in every recruiting class when they should be looking for most productive hitter regardless of style?
Last edited:
