Rolling 50: Power Rankings with a British Twist (July 2023)

Unlike many of the Bat Flips & Nerds team, I am unable to give MLB daily attention. And unlike fans in the USA, I cannot absorb baseball news by osmosis with wall-to-wall coverage in the background.

So, I am frequently surprised when I review the latest hitting stats or division standings. I mean, who knew that the St Louis Cardinals were second in runs, RBI and home runs during July?

Scrolling through Fangraphs hitting tables, it occurred to me that Power Rankings for Hitters could be easily produced using production over the last 50 days. The period of 50 days feels like a perfect sample size. It equates to around 200 plate appearances for elite, everyday players.

Also, sometimes as statistically-addicted British baseball fans, it could be argued that we are too obsessed with advanced metrics rather than what really matters… RUNS.

So, for the Power Rankings with a British Twist, we are only interested in runs and RBI, and not bothered about BABIP or xwOBA.

Criteria

For inclusion in the Power Rankings, the hitter must have at least 30 runs and 30 RBI over the last 50 days.

Observations

With three players in the top six, the Atlanta Braves possess a core of exceptional run-scorers
Four of the 11 have won the MVP award
Shohei Ohtani is good

Here is the Top 12 list (well, actually, there are only 11 players that met the minimum threshold over the last 50 days).

Notable exceptions

Manny Machado has the most RBI over the last 50 days but failed to break the 30-run mark. Sorry Manny, dems da rules.

With 36 RBI, Josh Naylor and Nolan Arenado have both driven in more runs than most of the players on our list, but like Machado, they simply failed to cross the plate enough times.

We all know that J.D Martinez is a typical slugger, as shown by 32 RBI but only 18 runs. Who knew that Bobby Witt Jr. would have a similar profile (30 RBI and only 16 runs)?

Only Shohei Ohtani has scored more runs than Ronald Acuna Jr., but despite 11 homers, the Braves phenom has only driven in 26 runs.

Jose Ramirez and Luis Robert both failed to make the list due to their RBI tally. Don’t argue for their inclusion. The list is not objective.

Full list (min 30 runs and 30 RBI over the last 50 days)