This is one of those studies that was not particularly insightful or useful. I did it hoping it might throw some light on the BABIP highway. I can’t think of any conclusions to draw from this info, but I’ll pass it along just in case someone has use for it.
What I did was take the 2011 Bill James Handbook and compute BABIP for all pitcher listed who had at least 200 career at bats.
214.61 Bronson Arroyo
200.00 Miguel Batista
218.05 Josh Beckett
212.44 Kris Benson
252.10 Chad Billingsley
233.58 AJ Burnett
203.59 Dave Bush
214.77 Matt Cain
275.59 Chris Capuano
156.38 Chris Carpenter
231.44 Aaron Cook
147.19 Doug Davis
163.93 Ryan Dempster
222.86 Elmer Dessens
266.30 Zach Duke
192.77 Jeff Francis
271.74 Cole Hamels
315.18 Mike Hampton
165.29 Aaron Harang
294.74 Dan Haren
248.09 Livan Hernandez
246.03 Tim Hudson
166.67 Ubaldo Jimenez
200.00 Ted Lilly
250.00 Tim Lincecum
228.40 Kyle Lohse
200.74 Derek Lowe
239.73 Paul Maholm
251.89 Jason Marquis
217.57 Kevin Millwood
082.57 Brian Moehler
200.00 Jamie Moyer
197.03 Brett Myers
277.78 Rocky Nolasco
330.99 Darren Oliver
258.06 Scott Olsen
265.75 Russ Ortiz
212.53 Roy Oswalt
225.00 Vicente Padilla
272.06 Chan Ho Park
229.51 Carl pavano
247.42 Jake Peavy
129.25 Mike Pelfrey
224.14 Brad Penny
240.00 Oliver Perez
201.01 Wandy Rodriguez
243.24 Johan Santana
147.83 Ben Sheets
225.61 Jeff Suppan
246.41 Javier Vazquez
296.65 Adam Wainwright
318.52 Jeff Weaver
263.16 Dontrelle Willis
273.91 Randy Wolf
231.11 Kerry Wood
242.31 Jamey Wright
329.79 Carlos Zambrano
152.94 Barry Zito
As far as I can tell, information not worth knowing or having. Maybe somebody else will find some use for it.
Top 5
330.99 Oliver
329.79 Zambrano
318.52 Weaver
315.18 Hampton
296.65 Wainwright
Bottom 5
082.57 Moehler
129.25 Pelfrey
147.19 Davis
147.83 Sheets
152.94 Zito
Odds and ends…
1. It might be best if your name starts with an O. Oliver, Olsen, Ortiz and Oswalt all are at least competent with the lumber
2. If your name begins with a Z, it can go either way, 329 for Zambrano or 152 for Zito
3. This may be the most interesting tidbit. Micah Owings hasn’t yet reached 200 at bats, so he wasn’t included in the above list. But hold onto your baseball caps: Owings BABIP is a whopping 398.23! That’s not a typo – I double checked. Maybe it’s time for the Reds (or whoever holds his contract) to do a Rick Ankiel and let him have a decent, long career as a hitter. Or else he might end up like Ken Brett.
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