2020 Review: Getting on Base

The most important thing for a pitcher is to get an out. The most important thing for a batter is to avoid making an out. Sounds completely stupid to break it down in such simplistic form, but that doesn’t make it any less accurate. To that end, let’s explore the players that were best at avoiding the out in the truncated 2020 season.

WHAT IS ON BASE PERCENTAGE?

It is just what it sounds like. OBP records the rate that a player is able to get on base. A perfect mark is 1.000.

It takes a bit of work, but you could figure it out pretty quickly if you really wanted to.

OBP = Hits+Walks+HBP / At-Bats+Walks+HBP+Sac Flies

(sac bunts and catcher’s interference are not included)

ON BASE PERCENTAGE KEY

The league average in 2020 was .322.

Here is a quick key.

Anything under .300 is horrible.

.300-.315 is poor.

.316 to .325 is league average.

.326-.340 is passable.

.341-.360 is solid.

.361-.375 is impressive.

.376-.399 is an all-star level.

Anything over .400 is elite.

If you haven’t already, it would be greatly beneficial to your fantasy league if you replaced batting average with OBP.

THE WORST AT GETTING ON BASE IN 2020

*We are using 150 plate appearances to qualify for inclusion in this report. There were 203 such men in 2020.

Name	G	PA	AVG	HR	RBI	R	SB	BB/K	OBP
Gregory Polanco	50	174	0.153	7	22	12	3	0.20	0.214
Javier Baez	59	235	0.203	8	24	27	3	0.09	0.238
Edwin Encarnacion	44	181	0.157	10	19	19	0	0.30	0.250
Evan White	54	202	0.176	8	26	19	1	0.21	0.252
Gary Sanchez	49	178	0.147	10	24	19	0	0.28	0.253
Erik Gonzalez	50	193	0.227	3	20	14	2	0.16	0.255
Michael Chavis	42	158	0.212	5	19	16	3	0.16	0.259
Tyler O’Neill	50	157	0.173	7	19	20	3	0.35	0.261
Niko Goodrum	43	179	0.184	5	20	15	7	0.26	0.263
Albert Pujols	39	163	0.224	6	25	15	0	0.36	0.270
Eduardo Escobar	54	222	0.212	4	20	22	1	0.37	0.270
Stephen Piscotty	45	171	0.226	5	29	17	4	0.17	0.271
Yuli Gurriel	57	230	0.232	6	22	27	0	0.44	0.274
Bryan Reynolds	55	208	0.189	7	19	24	1	0.37	0.275
Matt Chapman	37	152	0.232	10	25	22	0	0.15	0.276
Miguel Sano	53	205	0.204	13	25	31	0	0.20	0.278
Tim Lopes	46	151	0.238	2	15	16	5	0.18	0.278
Kevin Newman	44	172	0.224	1	10	12	0	0.57	0.281
Adam Eaton	41	176	0.226	4	17	22	3	0.38	0.285
Rio Ruiz	54	204	0.222	9	32	25	1	0.37	0.286
Jose Altuve	48	210	0.219	5	18	32	2	0.44	0.286
Marwin Gonzalez	53	199	0.211	5	22	15	0	0.41	0.286
Nicky Lopez	56	192	0.201	1	13	15	0	0.44	0.286
Garrett Hampson	53	184	0.234	5	11	25	6	0.22	0.287
Justin Upton	42	166	0.204	9	22	20	0	0.26	0.289
Shohei Ohtani	46	175	0.190	7	24	23	7	0.44	0.291
J.D. Martinez	54	237	0.213	7	27	22	1	0.37	0.291
Victor Robles	52	189	0.220	3	15	20	4	0.17	0.293
Adalberto Mondesi	59	233	0.256	6	22	33	24	0.16	0.294
Ryan McMahon	52	193	0.215	9	26	23	0	0.27	0.295
Austin Meadows	36	152	0.205	4	13	19	2	0.34	0.296
Evan Longoria	53	209	0.254	7	28	26	0	0.28	0.297
Keston Hiura	59	246	0.212	13	32	30	3	0.19	0.297
Wilson Ramos	45	155	0.239	5	15	13	0	0.32	0.297
Adam Frazier	58	230	0.230	7	23	22	1	0.49	0.297
Nicholas Castellanos	60	242	0.225	14	34	37	0	0.28	0.298
Brian Goodwin	50	164	0.215	6	22	17	5	0.31	0.299
Alex Gordon	50	184	0.209	4	11	15	0	0.49	0.299

Despite some good work on this list in certain respects, this list is replete with poor overall performers in 2020.

Above I noted that anything under .300 is horrible. I should add that anything under .250 is ghastly to the point of inducing uncontrollable vomiting or maybe even diarrhea.

Gregory Polanco has stunk for a while, mostly due to ill health.

Javier Baez? He’s never been able to draw a walk, and he’s often a wild swinger, which can be seen in that BB/K walk that isn’t even ¼ the league average. I threw up in my mouth just looking at that 0.09 number. It’s truly embarrassing that a major league baseball player of his skills could be that bad.

Edwin Encarnacion hit his homers, but his OBP was hideous as perhaps Father Time caught up with him.

Evan White was a terrible offensive performer in his first season.

I’ve talked for a long time about Mike Zunino. I mean Gary Sanchez.

Erik Gonzalez – no one cared about in fantasy.

Michael Chavis didn’t make enough contact despite getting a lot of work in Boston.

Eduardo Escobar neglected his body during the time off and predictably fell face first off a cliff.

Yuli Gurriel didn’t hit, and the birth certificate says 36 years old.

Matt Chapman was hurt and missed a lot of time, but he could certainly use some refinement in his game.

Miguel Sano really isn’t any different than Joey Gallo, other than he walks less.

Shocking to see Jose Altuve on this list.

Shohei Ohtani was miserable at everything he did in 2020. Amazing he still went 7/7 actually.

J.D. Martinez, you know the perennial all-star level performer – sucked ass in 2020.

Victor Robles simply didn’t show his skills enough in 2020.

Adalberto Mondesi is a flawed offensive player. I think there is something inherently wrong with the 5×5 fantasy game if a player like this can be an elite performer in the setup.

THE BEST AT GETTING ON BASE IN 2020

*We are using 150 plate appearances to qualify for inclusion in this report. There were 203 such men in 2020.

Name	G	PA	AVG	HR	RBI	R	SB	BB/K	OBP
Juan Soto	47	196	0.351	13	37	39	6	1.46	0.490
Freddie Freeman	60	262	0.341	13	53	51	2	1.22	0.462
Marcell Ozuna	60	267	0.338	18	56	38	0	0.63	0.431
Brandon Belt	51	179	0.309	9	30	25	0	0.83	0.425
DJ LeMahieu	50	216	0.364	10	27	41	3	0.86	0.421
Bryce Harper	58	244	0.268	13	33	41	8	1.14	0.420
Anthony Rendon	52	232	0.286	9	31	29	0	1.23	0.418
Paul Goldschmidt	58	231	0.304	6	21	31	1	0.86	0.417
Michael Conforto	54	233	0.322	9	31	40	3	0.42	0.412
Ronald Acuna Jr.	46	202	0.250	14	29	46	8	0.63	0.406
Brandon Nimmo	55	225	0.280	8	18	33	1	0.77	0.404
Jose Iglesias	39	150	0.373	3	24	16	0	0.18	0.400
Mike Yastrzemski	54	225	0.297	10	35	39	2	0.55	0.400
Alec Bohm	44	180	0.338	4	23	24	1	0.44	0.400
Justin Turner	42	175	0.307	4	23	26	1	0.69	0.400
Nelson Cruz	53	214	0.303	16	33	33	0	0.43	0.397
Trea Turner	59	259	0.335	12	41	46	12	0.61	0.394
Clint Frazier	39	160	0.267	8	26	24	3	0.57	0.394
Jason Heyward	50	181	0.265	6	22	20	2	0.81	0.392
Mike Trout	53	241	0.281	17	46	41	1	0.63	0.390
Jesse Winker	54	183	0.255	12	23	27	1	0.61	0.388
Mark Canha	59	243	0.246	5	33	32	4	0.69	0.387
Jose Ramirez	58	254	0.292	17	46	45	10	0.72	0.386
Travis d’Arnaud	44	184	0.321	9	34	19	1	0.32	0.386
Rhys Hoskins	41	185	0.245	10	26	35	1	0.67	0.384
Jeff McNeil	52	209	0.311	4	23	19	0	0.83	0.383
Aaron Hicks	54	211	0.225	6	21	28	4	1.08	0.379
Dominic Smith	50	199	0.316	10	42	27	0	0.31	0.377
David Fletcher	49	230	0.319	3	18	31	2	0.80	0.376
Cavan Biggio	59	265	0.250	8	28	41	6	0.67	0.375
Alex Dickerson	52	170	0.298	10	27	28	0	0.53	0.371
J.D. Davis	56	229	0.247	6	19	26	0	0.55	0.371
Jose Abreu	60	262	0.317	19	60	43	0	0.31	0.370
Manny Machado	60	254	0.304	16	47	44	6	0.70	0.370
Tommy La Stella	55	228	0.281	5	25	31	1	2.25	0.370

There were a lot of storylines to follow in 2020. One that likely didn’t get enough discussion was the fact that Juan Soto went full on Barry Bonds. A .490 OBP is historically good. If he had a number like that in a full season he would post a top-30 mark all-time. The only player in the 21^st century with a mark of .490 in a season is Bonds. That’s it.

Freddie Freeman could win the NL MVP.

Marcell Ozuna, Freeman’s teammate, could win the NL MVP.

Brandon Belt had an epic season, while no one was looking.

DJ LeMahieu will get AL MVP votes.

Bryce Harper is uneven, but he’s always been impressive at getting on base.

Anthony Rendon is a hell of a baseball player. He had a .412 OBP last season.  

Ronald Acuna is the only player in baseball to post a mark of .390 and hit less than .265 as he was all the way down at .250. He’s a prime example of a guy who is hurt by traditional 5×5, not that it kept him from starring overall, but with his OBP counted he would have been off the charts (he was top-30 overall in 5×5 leagues but could have been top-10 in OBP setups).

Jose Iglesias, Mike Yastrzemski and Alec Bohm. If you bet that trifecta of .400 OBP performances you would have won one of the biggest long shot bets in the history of betting.

Jason Heyward was actually pretty good this season. For reals. Hell, he had a better OBP than Mike Trout.

Jesse Winker hit just .255 as he slowed down the stretch but that .388 OBP is still damn impressive.

Rhys Hoskins posted an OBP .139 points clear of his batting average, and that is impressive. Cavan Biggio was up .125 points and J.D. Davis saw his OBP climb .124 above his batting average.

Consider using OBP in your league in 2020. Even if you don’t, pay attention to OBP when you take a look at player performances in 2020 as the smallish sample size did some wild things to come fellas batting averages.

For the entire list of qualifiers, you can click on the link.