September 4, 2024

Best Batter Today

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies posted his second 100+ game score in a month, the only two 100+ game scores this season. He collected five hits in six at bats, three of them home runs. He added a double and six RBI for a game score of 101. His three run home run in the top of the ninth gave the Phillies their winning margin over the Blue Jays 10-9.

In the same game, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.of the Blue Jays went four for five with a double and a home run for the second highest game score of the day, a 79. That puts him second in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings, just under three points behind Aaron Judge of the Yankees. Judge went one for five against Texas on Tuesday, the Rangers winning the game 7-4 on a walk-off grand slam by Wyatt Langford. The rookie is slugging just .382 on the season, but eight of his ten home runs came with men on base, two of the them grand slams. He is slugging .460 with men on base, so he applying his power when it does the most good. It’s one reason he drove in 60 runs this year.

Third place on the list belongs to Yordan Alvarez of the Astros who both had an off day. Bobby Witt Jr.of the Royals sits in fourth place after a two for three with a walk in a 7-1 Guardians victory. With the Twins losing as well, Cleveland extends their AL Central lead to 4 1/2 games.

Francisco Lindor moves into the fifth slot, making the MVP chants more credible. He went two for four with a double and a home run in a 7-2 win over the Red Sox, raising his slugging percentage to .500. Lindor started collecting multi-hit games on 6/4, and stayed hot ever since. He ranked 37th at that time.

2 thoughts on “Best Batter Today

  1. Dan

    Newbie here. How are game scores calculated? A search of the Interwebs leads me to a pitching, not hitting stat.

    ReplyReply
  2. David Pinto Post author

    I invented a game score for batters based on linear weights with some tweaks. The game score is adjusted for the park, then it’s .97*previous score + 0.3 of the game score.

    There are penalties for not playing.

    ReplyReply

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