I’ve devoted the past four weeks to a review of baseball excellence, revealing the winners of eight awards for outstanding performances in 2023.
Five of these honors — each named for a Hall of Famer — were focused on hitting. Follow these namesake links to learn more: Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Nellie Fox, and Rickey Henderson.
But it’s important to remember that this newsletter has a two-sided name: Baseball’s Best (and Worst). Hence today’s look at the worst side of things — the tailenders in the same five batting categories that I mentioned above.
Scroll down for a definition of each award, the batters with the worst performances in the American and National Leagues, a brief commentary, and then a restatement of the award winners who were announced in previous weeks.
All honorees for best performances were required to make at least 502 plate appearances (the official threshold for the batting title), but the same limit simply wouldn’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 making 502 trips. So I’ve dropped the statistical floor by a third — to 335 plate appearances — in determining the worst results in each league.
Subscribe — free — to Baseball’s Best (and Worst)
A new installment will arrive in your email upon posting
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: Tim Anderson, White Sox, BPO .486
NL worst: Brett Baty, Mets, BPO .517
Notes: Anderson reached only 190 bases while piling up 391 outs, resulting in the worst BPO in the major leagues. The overall BPO leader, Shohei Ohtani, actually made 27 fewer outs than Anderson (364), yet Ohtani attained 252 more bases (a total of 442).
AL best: Shohei Ohtani, Angels, BPO 1.214
NL best: Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves, BPO 1.197
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: Aledmys Diaz, Athletics, SC 45
NL worst: Kris Bryant, Rockies, SC 57
Notes: Diaz went to the plate 344 times, but he didn’t help the Athletics much on the scoreboard. He crossed the plate only 25 times and drove home only 24 runs. If you subtract his four homers, you wind up with the worst scoring total (45) for any batter with at least 335 appearances.
AL best: Marcus Semien, Rangers SC 193
NL best: Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves, SC 214
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: Tim Anderson, White Sox, ISO .051
NL worst: Starling Marte, Mets, ISO .076
Notes: Anderson once showed a touch of power, bashing 20 homers in 2018. But the electricity was all gone by 2023. His extra-base hit totals in 524 appearances: 18 doubles, two triples, and a lone home run. Nobody in the majors had a lower ISO.
AL best: Shohei Ohtani, Angels, ISO .350
NL best: Matt Olson, Braves, ISO .321
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: Nick Pratto, Royals, CT .549
NL worst: Jack Suwinski, Pirates, CT .615
Notes: The (somewhat) good news first. Pratto put 168 balls in play in his first full season in the majors. The bad news is that he struck out 138 times. His resulting CT of .549 was easily the worst in either league, indicating that he whiffed 45.1 percent of the time.
AL best: Steven Kwan, Guardians, CT .882
NL best: Luis Arraez, Marlins, CT .941
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, EY .023
NL worst: Thairo Estrada, Giants, EY .040
Notes: Perez isn’t cheated at the plate. He likes to take his swings, which is why he received only 13 unintentional walks in 574 appearances (after IBBs were subtracted), giving him the lowest EY in the majors, just .023.
AL best: J.P. Crawford, Mariners, EY .146
NL best: Juan Soto, Padres, EY .174