Colorado Rockies Roundtable: Who is the 2016 Team MVP?

James Keating

I have to back Andrew on this one and go with DJ LeMahieu as the team’s MVP in 2016. There is no question that Nolan Arenado is the cornerstone and franchise player of this club moving forward, but LeMahieu has been the most consistent aspect of this team

LeMahieu definitely doesn’t have the sexy stats. In 633 plate appearances this season, LeMahieu only has 11 home runs and 66 RBI (both career highs). Comparatively, Arenado has 41 home runs and 133 RBI, which are video game type numbers. But hear me out.

As Andrew mentioned, LeMahieu won the batting title with his .348 average, but there is a problem here. Average assumes that all hits are created equally, and we just simply know that that’s just not true. In conjunction, DJ is third in the Majors with an on-base-percentage of .416, that’s 35 points higher than the next Rockie (Blackmon at .381). One could argue that getting on base is what matters most offensively, but like AVG, OBP assumes all times on base are equally, again not a true assumption.

By taking an advanced look at the numbers, it’s pretty clear that DJ is the most valuable offensive player in the clubhouse despite a lack of the sexy numbers.

In an attempt to overcome the assumption problems laid out above, an advanced statistic called Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) integrates all the varying aspects of hitting into one value, weighting each hit and time on base in accordance too their true value in creating run production. Put simply, wOBA shows offensive value more accurately than AVG, OBP, and even slugging percentage.

I’m sure you can guess where I’m going with this. Heading into the weekend, DJ led the squad with an wOBA of .393 while Blackmon was second at .389, and then Nolan at .385. Still not sold? Well, if we control for park effects and weigh each offensive action, DJ again takes the cake with a Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) of 129 whereas Blackmon has a wRC+ of 126 and Nolan comes in at 124.

By taking an advanced look at the numbers, it’s pretty clear that DJ is the most valuable offensive player in the clubhouse despite a lack of the sexy numbers.