It may not be pleasant, but I’m required to pay occasional homage to the full title of this blog.
The past three Tuesdays have been dedicated to 2021’s best performances in nine categories, punctuated by awards named after Hall of Famers. (If you missed them, click these links for the first, second, and third installments.)
Now it’s time for the “(and Worst)” part of the title. Listed below are each league’s tailenders in the same nine groupings. (Well, actually eight. It’s really not fair to assign last place to anybody for one of the awards, as I’ll explain below.)
You’ll find a definition of each award, the players with the worst performances in each league, a brief commentary, and then a restatement of the award winners who were announced in previous weeks.
All listings for best performances are limited to hitters who made at least 502 plate appearances (the official threshold for the batting title) or pitchers who worked at least 162 innings (the minimum for the earned-run-average title).
The same limits simply won’t work at the other end of the scale. If a player suffers an especially bad season, he’s likely to spend considerable time on the bench, preventing him from reaching the 502/162 thresholds. So I’ve dropped them by a third — to 335 plate appearances or 108 innings — solely to determine the worst performances in each league.
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Ted Williams Award (overall batting)
Definition: Goes to the batter who reaches the most bases per out (BPO), reflecting the related abilities to hit for average, hit for power, and get on base in any way possible.
AL worst: Andrelton Simmons, Twins, .453 BPO
NL worst: Jackie Bradley Jr., Brewers, .443 BPO
Notes: Bradley reached only 149 bases while piling up 336 outs, giving him the worst BPO in the majors. Compare his numbers to those of the overall BPO leader, Bryce Harper, who made only 22 more outs (for a total of 358), yet amassed 424 bases. That’s a mindboggling difference in productivity.
AL best: Shohei Ohtani, Angels, 1.067 BPO
NL best: Bryce Harper, Phillies, 1.184 BPO
Lou Gehrig Award (scoring)
Definition: Goes to the batter who generates the most runs, as determined by adding runs scored and runs batted in, then subtracting home runs (since an HR is counted in both the R and RBI columns). The abbreviation for scoring is SC.
AL worst: Jorge Soler, Royals, 62 SC
NL worst: Victor Robles, Nationals, 54 SC
Notes: Robles’s biggest weakness was his inability to drive in runs. He produced only 19 RBIs in 107 games. What about Soler? Yes, he starred in the postseason for the Braves, but only after suffering through a mediocre season in Kansas City.
AL best: Bo Bichette, Blue Jays, 194 SC
NL best: Ozzie Albies, Braves, 179 SC
Babe Ruth Award (power)
Definition: Goes to the batter who has the highest average for isolated power (ISO), which is calculated the same way as batting average, though you substitute extra bases for hits. A batter gets one base for each double, two for each triple, and three for each homer. Add them up, then divide by at-bats.
AL worst: Andrelton Simmons, Twins, .051 ISO
NL worst: Kevin Newman, Pirates, .083 ISO
Notes: Simmons went to the plate 451 times in 2021, but he rarely went deep, resulting in the worst ISO in the big leagues. This was his total output of extra-base hits: 12 doubles, no triples, three home runs.
AL best: Shohei Ohtani, Angels, .335 ISO
NL best: Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres, .328 ISO
Nellie Fox Award (contact)
Definition: Goes to the batter who excels at putting his bat on the ball, based on contact rate (CT), which is the percentage of at-bats that do not end in strikeouts.
AL worst: Joey Gallo, Rangers-Yankees, .572 CT
NL worst: Patrick Wisdom, Cubs, .547 CT
Notes: Wisdom can drive the ball a long way when he makes contact, as evidenced by his 28 home runs this year. The problem is that he frequently misses, piling up 153 strikeouts in 338 at-bats. Nobody in the majors scored worse for CT.
AL best: David Fletcher, Angels, .904 CT
NL best: Kevin Newman, Pirates, .921 CT
Rickey Henderson Award (batting eye)
Definition: Goes to the batter who demonstrates the best knowledge of the strike zone, as shown by batting-eye rate (EY). It’s calculated by dividing unintentional walks by the number of plate appearances after intentional walks have been subtracted.
AL worst: Salvador Perez, Royals, and Harold Ramirez, Indians, .036 EY
NL worst: Kevin Pillar, Mets, .032 EY
Notes: Pillar loves to put the ball into play. He made 347 plate appearances this year, and only 11 resulted in unintentional walks. That left him with the lowest EY in the majors.
AL best: Joey Gallo, Rangers-Yankees, .173 EY
NL best: Juan Soto, Nationals, .193 EY
Willie Mays Award (fielding-batting combination)
Notes: This is a special award, given to the Gold Glove winner with the best BPO at the plate. Only eight position players win Gold Gloves in each league, which removes everybody else from consideration. That stipulation obviously makes it unfair to assign anybody to last place, so I won’t.
AL best: Marcus Semien, Blue Jays, .890 BPO
NL best: Tyler O’Neill, Cardinals, .944 BPO
Juan Marichal Award (overall pitching)
Definition: Goes to the pitcher who allows the fewest bases per out.
AL worst: Jorge Lopez, Orioles, .843 BPO
NL worst: Wil Crowe, Pirates, .868 BPO
Notes: Crowe obtained 342 outs for the Pirates, but he also surrendered 297 bases. His resulting BPO of .868 was the worst in either league. Consider that Corbin Burnes induced an additional 161 outs (for a total of 503), yet gave up only 230 bases, 67 fewer than Crowe. That’s why Burnes’s BPO was a microscopic .457.
AL best: Gerrit Cole, Yankees, .567 BPO
NL best: Corbin Burnes, Brewers, .457 BPO
Randy Johnson Award (strikeouts)
Definition: Goes to the pitcher who averages the most strikeouts per six innings. (Not nine innings. Six.)
AL worst: Dallas Keuchel, White Sox, 3.52 SO/6
NL worst: Jon Lester, Nationals-Cardinals, 3.86 SO/6
Notes: Keuchel has fashioned an admirable career without dominating stuff. His strikeout ratio dropped in 2021 to the lowest level since his rookie year, yet he still went 9-9 for the White Sox.
AL best: Dylan Cease, White Sox, 8.19 SO/6
NL best: Corbin Burnes, Brewers, 8.41 SO/6
Warren Spahn Award (durability)
Definition: Goes to the pitcher who averages the highest number of innings per appearance.
AL worst: Martin Perez, Red Sox, 3.17 IP/G
NL worst: Caleb Smith, Diamondbacks, 2.53 IP/G
Notes: This category admittedly gets a bit unfair at the bottom end. Yes, Smith started 13 games, but he also relieved in 32, which drove his endurance number down to the bottom of the overall standings. It should still be noted that he failed to get past the third inning in four of his starts.
AL best: Gerrit Cole, Yankees, and Robbie Ray, Blue Jays, 6.04 IP/G
NL best: Zack Wheeler, Phillies, 6.67 IP/G