Tim Anderson undoubtedly has fond memories of the period from 2019 to 2022.
The shortstop for the Chicago White Sox won the American League batting crown with a .335 average in the first season of that four-year stretch, then tacked on three more plus-.300 averages. He received votes for the Most Valuable Player Award, made a pair of All-Star teams, and was acclaimed as one of the best players in baseball.
But Anderson’s hot streak screeched to a sudden halt in 2023. He fell into a massive 52-for-244 (.213) slump between mid-June and early September, plunging his yearend average to a mediocre .245.
And, just as bad, his power disappeared. Anderson lofted 139 extra-base hits, including 51 home runs, during his 2019-2022 hot streak. But only 21 of his hits went for extra bases in 2023, and just one of those was a homer.
The extent of Anderson’s downfall was dramatized by the sudden shift in his annual base values (BV). His results for 2019-2022 added up to a total BV of plus-99, which means he reached 99 more bases than the typical batter would have attained under the same circumstances. (Click here to learn more about BV.)
But Anderson’s miserable 2023 performance nearly wiped the slate clean. He posted a BV of minus-85. The average big-league hitter would have reached 275 bases while making the same number of outs as Anderson did (391), but his total was a measly 190 bases.
No other hitter did as badly in 2023, though several came close. Listed below are the year’s 10 worst base values (actually, 11 worst with ties) among all batters in Major League Baseball.
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MLB bottom 10 in BV for batters
1. Tim Anderson, White Sox (BV minus-85) — The typical big-league hitter finished 2023 with a ratio of .704 bases per out (BPO). Anderson was almost 220 points lower at .486. What’s perplexing is that his 2019-2022 BPO was 89 points higher than the major-league average.
2. Javier Baez, Tigers (BV minus-76) — Remember all the excitement when the Tigers signed Baez to a $140 million free-agent contract? The buzz quieted down after Baez posted a weak BV of minus-29 in his first year in Detroit, then tanked to minus-76 in his second season.
3. Eric Haase, Tigers-Guardians (BV minus-64) — The Tigers waived Haase in August, and he susequently played three games for Cleveland. The results were poor in both cities, as evidenced by his .201 average and total of four home runs in 89 games.
4. (tie) Cam Gallagher, Guardians (BV minus-61) — Gallagher’s numbers have to be seen to be believed. He batted .126 in 56 games for Cleveland, reaching only 30 bases while making 129 outs. That translates to a nearly invisible BPO of .233.
4. (tie) Jean Segura, Marlins (BV minus-61) — There was a time when Segura was a solid hitter. His batting average topped .300 three times in his 12-year career. But everything came undone after he signed with Miami as a free agent. Segura batted just .219 in 85 games.
6. Nick Allen, Athletics (BV minus-60) — Allen’s batting average actually ticked higher in his second year with Oakland, though admittedly there was plenty of room for improvement. His BA pushed up from .207 in 2022 to .221. His BV, however, actually declined from minus-49 to minus-60.
7. Nick Fortes, Marlins (BV minus-57) — The batting arrow has pointed downward for Fortes throughout his three years in Miami. He hit .290 in minimal action in 2021, slipped to .230 in 72 games last year, then plummeted again to .204 in 108 games in 2023.
8. Joey Wendle, Marlins (BV minus-56) — Miami qualified for the playoffs this year despite a weak batting attack. How weak? Well, Wendle is the third Marlins player submerged among the bottom eight for base value. He batted .212 with an equally poor on-base percentage of .248.
9. Christian Vazquez, Twins (BV minus-55) — Vazquez batted .258 or better in every season from 2019 to 2022, then regressed to .223 in 2023. He once hit as many as 23 homers in a single year for the Red Sox (2019), but managed only six for Minnesota.
10. (tie) Brett Baty, Mets (BV minus-54) — The Mets have high hopes for Baty as their third baseman of the future, but the early results haven’t been promising. He batted only .212 in his first full season, while striking out 109 times in just 353 at-bats.
10. (tie) Myles Straw, Guardians (BV minus-54) — Straw is fast on the bases (71 stolen bases since 2021) and sure-handed in the field (a Gold Glover last year). But he’s not up to par at the plate. His BPO in 2023 was .561, which was 143 points below the big-league norm.