Differences between expected and actual BABIP for the 2010 White Sox

Gross @ THT:

A couple of years ago, Chris Dutton and Peter Bendix did some research on batted-ball data and created a metric called xBABIP (“expected BABIP”). xBABIP dispelled the myth that BABIP was primarily a function of “LD%+ .120.” Rather, as Dutton and Bendix found, BABIP was better explained as a function all batted-ball types and ratios with speed/power/strikeout considerations.

Last year, Derek Carty and Chris Dutton debuted the simple xBABIP calculator on THT. This tool has empowered users to determine a player’s xBABIP and compare it to their actual BABIP. Therefrom, one could forecast a hitter’s expected batting line, assuming all the input ratios were to remain constant. Over the course of 500+ PA, these ratios tend to be significant, though conclusions can still be drawn at the 300 PA threshold (we’d really only be waiting on IFFB% stabilization).

For all 270 hitters who accrued 300 or more plate appearances this season, I applied the xBABIP formula (by park) to determine each hitter’s expected batting lines. In short, what I have created is a spreadsheet of “what you can expect as a baseline for production in 2011, assuming all else remains constant.” In other words, this is how these hitters should have hit in 2010. …

Numbers for the White Sox players from the full spreadsheet:

Player	PA	xBABIP	BABIP	Difference
Andruw Jones	328	.310	.239	.071
Juan Pierre	734	.351	.294	.057
Mark Kotsay	359	.298	.247	.051
Carlos Quentin	527	.282	.241	.041
A.J. Pierzynski	503	.299	.278	.021
Alex Rios	617	.322	.306	.016
Alexei Ramirez	626	.311	.300	.011
Gordon Beckham	498	.304	.297	.007
Omar Vizquel	391	.309	.309	0
Paul Konerko	631	.297	.326	-.029

For players that played part of the year with the White Sox I got their BABIP numbers from statcorner. All the numbers are for the time they played for the White Sox:

Player	PA	xBABIP	BABIP	Difference
Jayson Nix	57	.262	.189	.073
Manny Ramirez	88	.313	.388	-.075

Mark Teahen had only 262 PAs.