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Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Calculating the Elias rankings
About 25 years ago, the Baseball Digest provided the complete details to the Elias rankings. It was, to say the least, terrible. Basically, players are ranked with an ordinal in 4 or 5 categories, averaged, and then players are grouped in position groups, and their totals are subtracted from 101, so that a guy who finishes 1 across the board is a “100”. It’s silly, I know. I don’t have those Baseball Digest, but I asked an insider if he can share the current formula. If/until that happens, I did unearth a couple of Murray Chass articles that provide some details (what follows are excerpts from NY Times articles of 20 years ago):
Players’ Ranking Released
CHASS, MURRAY. New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Oct 28, 1987. pg. A.25
LEAD: Don Mattingly, who for the past two years has generally been considered the best player in baseball, gained a new distinction yesterday. He became the first player to receive a perfect score in the seven-year history of the ranking statistics.
Don Mattingly, who for the past two years has generally been considered the best player in baseball, gained a new distinction yesterday. He became the first player to receive a perfect score in the seven-year history of the ranking statistics.
The statistics, based on the 1986 and 1987 seasons, are compiled by the Elias Sports Bureau to determine the rank of players eligible to be free agents. A free-agent’s rank, in turn, determines what level of compensation, if any, would be required if the player signs with a new team.
The rankings, however, are also the most complete guide for statistically comparing players at each position and in ranking groups.
First in All Categories
Mattingly is the first player to place first in every category in the statistics used for ranking his position. First basemen are ranked on plate appearances, batting average, on-base percentage, home runs and runs batted in. Because Mattingly is first in each category, he emerged with a rank of 1.0.
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Once the players are ranked at each position, they are placed in five ranking groups. Catchers, starting pitchers and relievers remain by themselves while first basemen, outfielders and designated hitters are grouped together as are second baseman, third basemen and shortstops.
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Mattingly also received a perfect score of 100 in his ranking group. Previously, the highest score in a ranking group was Steve Carlton’s 98.925 in 1981, the first year of the ranking statistics. Murray’s 98.462 in 1984 had been the previous high in the American League.
Giants’ Clark Rated Best Big-League Player
MURRAY CHASS, Special to The New York Times. New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Oct 24, 1989. pg. D.27
Clark, who is awaiting the resumption of the World Series, had the best average placement, 1.7, in baseball’s annual rankings, which are based on statistics from the past two seasons.
In the new rankings, Clark, who last year supplanted Keith Hernandez after the Met had been the National League’s top-rated first baseman for four years, was rated first in batting average, on-base percentage and runs batted in among 20 first basemen. He was second in plate appearances and tied for third in home runs. Adding his ratings and dividing by five produces an average rank of 1.7, one of the lowest in the history of the statistics.
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Of seven statistical categories for third basemen, fielding percentage and total chances deal with defense. Bonilla was 16th among 22 third basemen in fielding percentage, but he was first in total chances. In the five offensive categories, he was first in two, second in two and third in one. Sax 2d at Second