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So I was listening to a Fangraphs podcast (then reading an article) about what it means to have 5 tools, and when they are useful. Along the way, the conversation turned to whether the tools themselves were “right.” All of it is interesting in the way intellectual questions are interesting, but it got me to thinking again of how I view tools in OOTP, and even in the BBA—which are actually slightly different, believe it or not, because I see the BBA rating environment as having been a little warped.
Regardless, I though I’d have a little fun with ratings while I was asking the question. Who are our 5-tool players, eh? And what do we mean by that? How successful are these guys vs. the norm?
Of course, to answer that I need to first define the tools—or at least how I think about the tools. So let’s do that first—define the tools and how I played with ratings to calculate whether players have these tools or not. To me our five tools are these:
Hit for Average:
This is one of the normal tools, and in OOTP we’re tempted to just look at “Contact” and leave it be. In a league where pitching ratings are all kind of around average, this would be fine enough. But our ratings are skewed, especially toward stuff—which means Avk is perhaps a bit more important. In other words, this is a place where the BBA is outside the norm. You could write a pretty complex equation to simulate this, but to simplify this, I decided to adjust their contact by a factor of how far above or below “7” their AVK was (so a high AVK improves CON, a lower one degrades it. At that point, a “6” Adjusted Contact is graded as having a Hit for Average Tool.
Hit for Power:
Again, this is another normal tool. I include both the player’s Gap and Power rating in this assessment (I think I tend to value Gap more than the usual bear). I weight them toward raw power, though, scoring this tool as the average of .8 * Gap and 1.2 * Power. At this point, any player with a “6” I consider to have the Hit for Power tool.
Plate Discipline:
Along the lines of the OBP thing I posted before, this tool is about the ability to walk and avoid strikeouts. Not surprising, I score this similar to the Hit for Power tool, weighting Eye at 1.2 and AvK at .8. Again, any player with a “6” in this category is said to hat the Plate Discipline Tool.
Base Running
The “real life” baseball tool here is “speed,” but I replace speed with Baserunning, which for this simplified measure has no relation to speed. There are some reasons I ignore speed, which I’ll not get into here. Instead, I’ll just say for now that I weigh a player’s Steal rating at 1.2, and his core Baserunning skill at .8, then take the average. In this case, the player needs to score 7 or higher to be assigned the Baserunning Tool.
Ability to Play a Defensive Position
Again, a deviation from “Real life” scouting norm. Real life uses throwing, or are strength. I use “can the guy play a defensive position. So basically I look for a “7” or better at his primary position. I’ve oscillated between a 6, 7 and 8 here, and the bottom line is that I’ve chosen to stick with 7 because it makes the end results just feel better.
So there we have them, our five tools. Looking at the player profile, they look like this:
Using this definition across the league of 512 players, we get the following totals of players who posses each tool.
- Hit for Average - 187
- Hit for Power - 236
- Plate Discipline - 186
- Base Running - 260
- Ability to Play a Position - 309
Code: Select all
Name TM Hit-AT Hit-PT PltDT B-RunT DefT Tools CON GAP POW EYE K's DEF SPE STE RUN
Dennis French BOI 1 1 1 1 1 5 12 10 7 4 10 10 10 8 7
Steven Collins EDM 1 1 1 1 1 5 11 7 6 5 7 8 10 11 11
Juan Santana MTL 1 1 1 1 1 5 9 8 6 4 9 7 10 11 11
Virgil Shafer NO 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 6 8 6 7 9 10 11 11
Alex Ramírez WIC 1 1 1 1 1 5 8 8 8 6 7 7 10 10 9
Ross Quicker MAD 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 8 7 5 8 7 10 11 11
Mark White SA 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 6 7 6 7 9 9 8 10
Thad Meyer PHX 1 1 1 1 1 5 8 9 6 4 8 9 8 11 8
Rocky Allen JAX 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 8 5 5 7 10 10 10 8
Millard Younger ATC 1 1 1 1 1 5 8 9 6 5 7 8 10 8 6
Ramón Pagán VAL 1 1 1 1 1 5 8 7 8 5 7 7 10 10 4
Brett White JAX 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 7 9 5 7 7 7 10 9
Duane Whitley TWC 1 1 1 1 1 5 8 6 8 6 7 7 5 9 8
Natanael Barral MAD 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 9 7 7 6 7 1 10 10
Looking at some four-tool players, you see guys like Chip Puckett, who lacks the Hit for Power Tool. Same for Juan Karyabwite, whose 7/5 Gap/Power combo just barely misses (of course, his 3/9 Eye/AVK barely qualifies).
All total, I claim 64 4-Tool Players
Code: Select all
Name TM Hit-AT Hit-PT PltDT B-RunT DefT Tools CON GAP POW EYE K's DEF SPE STE RUN
SS Chip Puckett RCK 1 0 1 1 1 4 8 6 3 6 9 11 10 11 11
LF J. Karyabwite CLG 1 0 1 1 1 4 9 7 5 3 9 10 9 11 11
SS V. Strömberg PHX 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 4 7 8 8 9 8 10 11
SS Pedro Díaz RCK 1 0 1 1 1 4 8 7 3 4 8 10 10 10 9
CF A. Kamade NSH 1 0 1 1 1 4 9 8 4 5 8 7 9 9 11
CF N. Machiavelli MAD 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 6 3 6 7 11 10 9 8
RF Kevin MacKeith MTL 1 1 0 1 1 4 7 8 7 6 6 9 10 7 8
RF Luis Maldonado SFB 0 1 1 1 1 4 6 6 9 6 7 9 8 11 9
1B Lucas McNeill YS9 1 1 0 1 1 4 8 8 7 6 6 9 8 10 8
LF Andrew Torres MAD 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 9 6 5 7 8 9 6 7
LF Luis Costello EDM 1 1 0 1 1 4 8 7 8 4 7 9 9 10 5
LF Pedro Saldaña LOU 0 1 1 1 1 4 6 8 6 5 7 8 10 11 11
2B Á. De Castillo SA 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 6 7 6 7 9 9 5 3
SS James Monger OMA 1 1 1 1 0 4 8 7 7 5 8 6 7 9 11
LF D. Kirshbaum VAN 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 5 3 4 10 8 8 10 10
RF Ricardo Peña MEX 1 1 0 1 1 4 7 7 6 3 8 8 10 10 8
3B José Cortés SEA 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 5 1 5 8 9 10 11 11
2B E. Encarnación JAX 1 0 1 1 1 4 8 7 2 4 9 8 10 9 6
1B Mike Ellis VAL 1 0 1 1 1 4 8 8 4 4 9 7 9 11 6
SS Ángel García SFB 0 1 1 1 1 4 6 4 8 8 7 8 7 10 8
RF M. Dalrymple EDM 1 1 0 1 1 4 9 7 7 4 7 8 7 10 7
CF Yi-ke Zang RCK 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 6 3 3 9 8 9 10 11
2B Jared Gillstrom SFB 1 1 0 1 1 4 9 5 7 6 6 8 5 11 11
SS Tu-fu Yong NSH 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 7 8 5 7 8 9 8 5
CF J. Starks, Jr. OMA 1 1 1 1 0 4 7 8 6 7 6 6 9 11 11
3B David Noboru JAX 1 1 0 1 1 4 9 7 7 3 5 8 9 11 11
SS Miguel Padilla YS9 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 6 1 3 9 8 10 11 11
1B Fernando Cruz EDM 1 1 1 1 0 4 8 7 9 7 9 4 1 9 11
CF Jin-song Xuan RCK 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 5 2 2 9 9 9 10 11
LF Justin Jackson NSH 1 1 0 1 1 4 8 8 8 5 6 7 7 7 8
3B G. Guzmán DM 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 6 1 6 8 7 9 10 11
CF Mario Soriano CLG 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 4 1 4 9 8 9 11 11
SS F. Martínez EDM 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 7 3 4 9 8 9 9 5
3B Luis Soto EDM 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 3 6 4 10 8 6 10 8
SS Ángel Zalapa VAL 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 7 8 6 8 8 3 3 3
3B Sam Wade NSH 0 1 1 1 1 4 5 8 5 6 7 8 9 11 8
CF Tom Rudge LV 1 1 0 1 1 4 7 8 6 6 5 7 10 10 9
SS Pedro Gómez PHX 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 4 1 4 9 8 10 10 11
2B Keith Dean ATC 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 8 6 5 8 7 6 6 4
RF Luis Claudio EDM 1 1 1 0 1 4 6 7 6 4 8 8 8 6 6
RF Jorge Vargas BRK 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 5 5 4 8 9 8 10 7
LF C-hyeok Chang SA 1 0 1 1 1 4 8 7 3 4 8 7 10 9 5
3B F. Guilamo VAN 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 6 4 4 8 9 6 10 10
LF R. Hernández ATC 0 1 1 1 1 4 3 5 7 8 5 9 10 11 10
3B Mario Barrera NO 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 7 6 7 7 7 5 5 7
SS Tony Gustafsen CLG 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 4 1 4 8 9 9 11 11
SS R. Wareham JAX 0 1 1 1 1 4 5 4 8 8 6 7 6 11 11
2B José Ríos CLG 1 1 0 1 1 4 8 7 7 4 7 7 3 11 11
CF G. Herrera OMA 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 6 6 3 9 7 5 11 8
1B José Estrada MEX 1 1 0 1 1 4 8 5 9 2 8 7 5 9 7
1B Charles Martin MTL 1 0 1 1 1 4 7 6 1 3 9 8 8 11 8
3B Michael Best LBC 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 8 6 5 8 7 3 5 4
1B Y. Terada BOI 0 1 1 1 1 4 6 6 8 8 5 9 2 7 8
1B Mark Simpson LBC 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 7 8 9 5 8 1 3 5
3B Emílio Morales OMA 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 5 9 3 9 9 1 3 1
C F. Flores RCK 1 1 1 0 1 4 9 8 6 4 8 8 1 1 1
2B Yi-ke Hsiao EDM 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 8 5 5 7 7 4 5 4
LF C. Gonzáles LBC 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 6 7 5 7 7 1 5 10
SS A. Williamson DM 0 1 1 1 1 4 5 7 6 8 5 7 7 8 7
3B J. Delage MEX 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 6 7 6 7 7 5 4 1
C Hsin Mei MEX 1 1 1 0 1 4 8 8 9 5 7 7 1 1 1
LF Scott Martin LOU 0 1 1 1 1 4 5 8 6 5 7 7 4 8 7
3B CURT LOVE VAL 1 1 1 0 1 4 7 7 7 5 7 7 3 1 1
1B Eliseu Satino LV 1 1 1 1 0 4 8 9 6 4 8 1 5 9 8
Code: Select all
Team 0 Tools 1 Tool 2 Tools 3 Tools 4 Tools 5 Tools Total
ATC 2 4 4 1 2 1 14
BOI 2 5 6 3 1 1 18
BRK 2 5 5 4 1 17
CAL 4 11 3 18
CCJ 2 3 4 8 17
CLG 3 5 7 4 19
DM 4 7 4 2 17
EDM 2 4 2 7 1 16
HAW 1 5 5 4 15
HNT 2 4 10 16
JAX 2 5 4 4 3 2 20
LBC 3 11 3 3 20
LOU 5 7 2 2 16
LV 1 2 4 8 2 17
MAD 2 6 3 2 2 15
MEX 4 3 6 4 17
MTL 1 4 7 3 2 1 18
NO 1 5 7 7 1 1 22
NSH 1 1 5 5 4 16
OMA 1 2 2 4 4 13
PHX 8 3 6 2 1 20
RCK 3 4 4 5 16
SA 1 1 4 6 2 1 15
SEA 1 2 7 4 1 15
SFB 2 3 5 4 3 17
TWC 3 2 10 1 16
VAL 3 6 4 3 1 17
VAN 3 6 5 6 2 22
WIC 2 6 5 3 1 17
YS9 1 8 4 2 15
Total 25 106 160 142 64 14 511
I should note that the calculations involved here do not include platoon effect, which in Thomas's case are huge values, and which I'm certain would change things for several players. Still, it's fun, and at least for me it's an interesting way to look at things.