A new type of player is stepping into the batter’s box—the on-base specialist. And it’s about time; the last major advance in baseball offense came in 1973 with the designated hitter in the American League. In recent years, pitching has dominated hitting, and run production has been on the decline. With a new dynamic in offensive strategy, that is probably about to change. Batters in the future could well be on base more frequently than before, and more successful in getting on base than pitchers will be in getting them out. Most importantly, the on-base specialist will be expected to help his team score more runs and win more games.
This book is the first to explore this concept. The reasoning and statistics behind this new model of offense are sound and the implications may be game-changing.

Bill Hagedorn is a retired businessman living in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Bill Hagedorn
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 208
Bibliographic Info: 24 photos, 47 tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9765-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1941-5
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments ix

Preface 1

1. Playing by the Rules 5

2. Two Problems 13

3. Intentional Hitter vs. Intentional Walker 18

4. Two Hypotheses 26

5. I Think We’ve Got Our Man 33

6. Some Seeds of the OBS in Baseball’s History 38

7. The OBS in the Batter’s Box 48

8. The Baseball Bull’s-Eye 60

9. Projected OBA for a ­Full-Time OBS 66

10. Projected Runs for a ­Full-Time OBS 75

11. Walks and Wins—Historical 86

12. Walks and Wins—OBS Projection 95

13. Who Wants to Go First? 111

14. The Situational OBS—(Farewell to) the Sacrifice Bunt 120

15. The Situational OBS—Bases Loaded 129

16. A Revolution in Strategy 142

17. The National Pastime Evolves Once Again 153

Appendix A: Two Alternatives to OBSEOBA 161

Appendix B: Creating the Equation for Number of Pitches Needed for a Walk 165

Appendix C: Reasoning Behind the RS1BA Equation 168

Appendix D: A Revolution in the Record Books 171

Appendix E: A Hypothetical OBS Plate Appearance 181

Chapter Notes 187

Bibliography 193

Index 195