STATS created by Toshiya Ono, CEO
Is BA the Best Stats?
Do you agree with the idea that baseball batting average is the best statistic for expressing how hot a batter is during the regular season? I beg to differ. BA treats singles and home runs the same.
Then, home runs and RBIs are better than BA. Is that right? Unfortunately, no. They never show that you get runners on first and third base with your own hit and set up the run.
So I develop a new metric that focuses on the process leading to runs, simple and easy to understand for everyone.
Something Overlooked
The baseball world has overlooked a vital statistic since the game began in the 19th century.
Suppose a batter hits a single with a runner on first base, advancing the runner to third base. The batter is credited with one hit and one base, but there is no record of the batter advancing the runner from first to third base.
What is BBI? written by Toshiya Ono, CEO
Baseball is a game where players race around the diamond and compete to reach home plate. Don’t we need to pay more attention to the process?
That’s why I came up with a practical statistic called Bases Batted In, abbreviated BBI, which adds the bases advanced by runners to the bases earned by the batter.
BBI includes walks, hit-by-pitches, and advances due to opponent errors, as well as sacrifice bunts and sacrifice flies.
Furthermore, by adding bases gained through productive outs and tag-ups, known as touch-ups in Japanese, I make BBI a comprehensive metric. Double plays count as minus one.
BBI Makes Sense to All
BBI is a measure that expresses all events on the field through base running.
For example, if a batter hits a double with runners on first and third base, scoring two runs, the batter’s BBI is 6 because the two base hits are added to the four bases advanced by the runners.
Similarly, if a batter works a walk with the bases loaded, the batter’s BBI is 4, as their own base hit is one, and the three bases advanced by the runners are added. This walk has the same value as a solo home run.
Who Holds the BBI Title?
Although it’s a bit outdated, let’s take a look back at the 2017 NPB Central League regular season in Japan.
Who had the most BBI? Was it the leading hitter, DeNA’s Toshiro Miyazaki? The RBI leader and total bases leader, DeNA’s Lopez? Or the home run king, Dragons’ Guerrero?
None of the above. The answer is Yoshihiro Maru of the champion Hiroshima Carp.
Maru recorded 645 BBI, beating second-place Lopez’s 584 by a whole 10%!
Maru, batting third, won the MVP honor. BBI effectively reflects the depth of impression he left on the journalists who voted throughout the season.
Hitting Power to Advance Runners
In the 2017 Central League regular season, Ryuhei Matsuyama of the Carp ranked first with a BBI/10 of 10.57, demonstrating his tough-hitting talent at the plate. The Carp also dominated the rankings from second to sixth place.
Seiya Suzuki, who ranked third, has been a key outfielder for the Chicago Cubs since 2022.
BBI/10 means the BBI per 10 plate appearances, not per 10 at-bats.
Pitching Power that Pins Runners to the Base
BBI/10 reveals how well a pitcher has shut down batters and kept runners on base.
In 2017 in NPB regular season, the top starter in the Central League was Tomoyuki Sugano of the Giants with 4.94, while the top starter in the Pacific League was Yusei Kikuchi of the Lions with 5.50.
Sugano is currently with the Baltimore Orioles, and Kikuchi is with the Los Angeles Angels, both performing well in their starting rotations.
Veteran lefty Kikuchi is heading to the 2025 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard for the second time in his career and he’s the club’s lone selection.
ERA vs. BBI/10
As a closer, SoftBank’s Saffate recorded an astonishing BBI of 3.99 in the 2017 regular season.
He set a new NPB Japanese professional baseball record with 54 saves and was named Pacific League regular season MVP.
Yes, his ERA of 1.09 in 66 games was outstanding, but his true MVP-caliber performance could be noted in his BBI/10.
Is RISP Reliable? written by Toshiya Ono, CEO
Is batting average with runners in scoring position, known as RISP, the only stats that proves a batter’s ability to drive in runs?
That’s completely wrong. RISP is calculated based on batting average, so sacrifice flies, squeeze plays, RBI ground outs, and bases-loaded walks don’t count. Even if a batter hits a triple or a home run with a runner on first base, it won’t be reflected in this metric.
RBI/8 is really cool
So I took all the RBIs earned by batters and developed a new indicator that shows a batter’s ability to earn RBIs.
I call it RBI threat, expressed as RBI/8.
There are eight different runner situations, for example, no runners, runner on first, runners on second and third, and bases loaded. The number of RBIs earned in each situation is divided by the number of plate appearances and added together.
Uncovering Hidden Talent
It’s a bit old, but I want to look up the RBI/8 for the 2017 NPB Central League regular season in Japan. At the top is Ryuhei Matsuyama, the cleanup hitter for the Carp, with a 3.78, but an unexpected player came in fifth.
He surpassed the RBI/8 of Shinnosuke Abe, the home run hitter for the Giants and current manager of the team, and Shuichi Murata. It was Masashi Kuwahara, Yokohama DeNA’s leadoff hitter, who scored 3.30.
Standing at 174 cm, Kuwahara is a small right-handed outfielder with a batting average of only around .250. However, he is known for his bold batting style and hit two grand slams in the regular season.
The Cost of Neglecting Research
In the final game of the 2017 Climax Series Final Stage playoffs in NPB, Kuwahara smashed a game-winning two-run homer in the top of the third inning.
The Hiroshima Carp obviously underestimated his abilities and failed to investigate him thoroughly. As a result of one careless pitch in the top of the third inning, they failed to advance to the next stage, the Japan Series Championship.
RBI/8 is an Endeavor to Explore the Unknown
Furthermore, I was fairly certain that Kuwahara would play a key role in the 2024 Japan Series Championship for DeNA against SoftBank Hawks.
Indeed, he set a new Japan Series record with five consecutive games with at least one RBI and was named MVP.
I was probably the only journalist in the world who predicted his brilliant success before the Championship. All thanks to RBI/8. If the Hawks had kept an eye on him through RBI/8, the Hawks would have won the championship.
