Just how good is Kevin Youkilis?
He's been called the "Greek God of Walks". The Fenway Faithful rain down the "Yoooooouuuuk" when he steps to the plate. Pundits call him versatile for his ability to play both 1B and 3B very well. But not many people outside of Red Sox Nation call him a superstar baseball player. How good is he? Let's take a look back at his most recent body of work - the 2008/2009 seasons. 136 Baseball players "qualified" for this analysis using Fangraphs.
OBP: Considered by a large contingent to be one of the most important stats when it comes to offense. You come to bat - you should get on base - plain and simple. Over the last two seasons Kevin Youkilis is one of only 9 players in all of the majors to post an OBP of .400+. The list is below
Pujols - 0.452, Mauer - 0.428, C. Jones - 0.427, M. Ramirez - 0.425, Berkman - 0.410, Helton - 0.407, H. Ramirez - 0.405, Holliday - 0.401, Youkilis - 0.401.
Most of the players on that list would be called "super-stars" at least some time in their respective careers...Youkilis?
OPS: Pick two names for the top OPS players over the past two seasons - one is Pujols who is the only player to post over a "1.000" at 1.108. You may choose Manny Ramirez as the second because he's widely regarded as a top hitter in the league - Manny checks in at 0.999. Third place? Hmm....Texiera? (4th), A-Rod? (7th)......Its Youkilis with a 0.960.
wOBA: WOBA! Over the past two seasons the top 3 in WOBA - Pujols 0.453 (ridiculous), M. Ramirez 0.418, A-Rod 0.409 and 3 players tied at 0.407 (Guess who one of those guys is?) the other two are Hanley Ramirez and Joe Mauer.
Could you argue that Youk is one of the top 6 offensive players in baseball??
wRC: After finishing 9th in OBP and tied for 4th in wOBA, Youk takes a hit on this list and falls to a mere 13th in all of baseball. Of course that's above such players as David Wright, Berkman, A-Rod, Jeter, Manny Ramirez, and numerous other players of name and still in the top 10% of all qualified players.
WAR: Youkilis posted a 11.2 WAR over the past two seasons placing him 9th amongst positional players.
Pujols - 17.4, Utley - 15.6, H. Ramirez - 14.6, Mauer - 14.0, Longoria - 12.5, Holliday - 12.0, Texiera - 11.9, Pedroia - 11.9, Youk - 11.2
So to Recap (Out if 136 qualifiers over 2008-2009)
OBP - 9th
OPS - 3rd
wOBA - 4th (tied)
wRC - 13th
WAR - 9th
Top 10% of his class in every statistic shown, Top 5% in 2 of the 5 categories.
Kevin Youkilis - the Superstar
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16 comments
Comments
He may be the "Greek God of Walks," but he's also the Hebrew Hammer
by RSNexile on Jan 21, 2010 6:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I'm pretty damn sure
Either Kapler or Braun had gained the name “Hebrew Hammer”.
I never recall Youkilis being called that.
by FloridaownsFSU on Jan 22, 2010 6:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Um... yeah
The nickname isn’t really the point.
by RSNexile on Jan 22, 2010 8:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Figures
now I see what you mean.
my bad.
by FloridaownsFSU on Jan 22, 2010 9:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Y'hear that, Mel?! We've got two Jews on this team!
"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.
by 0157H7 on Jan 22, 2010 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
He's busy
harassing the Malibu PD down by Moonshadows…
All of this overlooks the fact that when you look at it on low-res, the bald goateed Travolta in the “From Paris with Love” trailer looks kinda like Youk, but with a rocket launcher. I predict that this will be the best thing about that movie…
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Jan 23, 2010 4:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Excellent Job!
We need him as 3rd batter, keep going youk!
by Juan M on Jan 23, 2010 9:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Greek God of Walks
Well on the Sox yes. The entire rest of the MLB not quite yet.
Leave me, leave me, I can't effin stand you.
by Swishawk on Jan 24, 2010 6:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
well that quote was from Billy Beane long ago
and probably isn’t quite as true as it looked like it might be before he got drafted- though he does walk a LOT. I think the most walks per AB for the Sox actually belongs to Drew in 2009
Though either way, Youk certainly does know how to take a walk.
by wolf9309 on Jan 27, 2010 9:38 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
What he does still do
Is see the 2nd most pitches per plate appearance of any player in the MLB.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jan 27, 2010 10:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Fangraphs
chone proj youks WAR @ 3.8 23 hr’s, 88 rbi ,284 avg. I’m thinking thats way low.
Took chones proj 4 NYY & BOS lineups and came up with a 3.3 Dif in favor of NY. Thats not counting pitching where I think Bos is much better
by Pl1166 on Jan 27, 2010 12:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Projections probably won't love Youkilis till he does it one more year.
And then they’ll start hitting him with age regression.
I see no reason why we shouldn’t suspect another stellar year from him.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jan 27, 2010 1:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
He is the Beard of Truth.
"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.
by SoxDevil on Jan 28, 2010 11:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Youk is the best
4th hitter, Greek god of walks, gold glove contender. Plus all the funny outbursts (broken bats, thrown helmets etc.)
by RedSoxCook on Feb 8, 2010 5:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

























