Average Production of Players by Position

[Chicago RedSox]

There is a short article in the Feb 5, '07 issue of Sporting News that addresses the average production of players at chach position.
The numbers were extracted from 2006's Sporting News Commissioner Games for 5x5 mixed leagues with 23-man active rosters. The comments are from the author of the aritcle, Brendan Roberts

Catcher
.294 Average
14 Home Runs
62 RBI's
54 Runs
2 SB
Comment: Not bad, huh? Well, Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, Victor Martinez and a few others inflate the average. The drop off after the elite guys is steep.

First Base
.293 Average
28 Home Runs
92 RBI's
81 Runs
2 SB
Comment: Twenty years ago, 28 homers was quite an accompishment. Now, it's what mixed leagues owners should expect from a first baseman.

Second Base
.287 Average
15 Home Runs
67 RBI's
78 Runs
13 SB
Comment: The dry spell at second base is over. Youngsters such as Chase Utley, Robinson Cano and Rickie Weeks will make this position even stronger in the future.

Third Base
.292 Average
25 Home Runs
96 RBI's
93 Runs
10 SB
Comment: It's a travesty that third base shares a position with first base in standard league setups. Third Base isn't as deep as first, but it's nearly as good in the upper and middle tiers.

ShortStop
.299 Average
16 Home Runs
76 RBI's
98 Runs
24 SB
Comment: The top tier is almost as strong as it was when A-Rod played at short, but the drop-off is precipitious after the top 10.

Outfield
.285 Average
21 Home Runs
77 RBI's
81 Runs
14 SB
Comment: The numbers look low to us, too, but remember the average league has between 60 and 65 outfielders in starting spots and production drops off dramatically after the top 40 to 50.

Starting Pitcher
13 Wins
3.96 ERA
1.24 WHIP
145 K's
Comment: Are these better then you thought? The only problem with drafting pitchers early is that they tend to be more inconsistent tan hitters fro year to year.

Relief Pitcher
26 Saves
3.13 ERA
1.21 WHIP
68 K's
Comment: If a mixed-league owner can’ get his or her hands on two or three solid closers – on draft day or later – something is wrong.


**I found this article pretty interesting and I might use it when drafting, especially for my later picks. I hope someone else might find this useful as well.

[Krunk City King$]

good post

[ayebatter]

Nice post, should be very helpful to a lot of guys in the Cafe.

[Chicago RedSox]

We're drafting on Friday. Unfortunately it's an auto draft, but I'm using these to set up my pre-rankings

[Amazinz]

I love SN magazine. I have had a subscription for years. I hate their fantasy articles. That's really irrelevant to this post but I figured I'd throw it out there. I read the mini-article you're referring, the one by Brendan Roberts. I would just like to point out that positional averages are worthless for fantasy baseball. The mean is misleading!

[mrobinson]

in an average fantasy baseball league, 35-40 OFs are in starting lineups. also, what is the non sense about third base "sharing" a position with 1b? the CI thing? thats not a very common position.

[roninmedia]

Keep in mind, this is based on their leagues that SN offer. It is also simlar to the set-up sportsline has for their roto leagues except SN has one more U spot and sportsline has one extra C.

Their set-up is: 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 CI, 1 MI, 5 OF, 2 U.

[Ender]

in an average fantasy baseball league, 35-40 OFs are in starting lineups. also, what is the non sense about third base "sharing" a position with 1b? the CI thing? thats not a very common position.

The majority of leagues I played in before Yahoo came around used the deeper format. The format Yahoo uses is really meant for AL or NL only leagues thats why Yahoo public leagues are such a joke.

Very few serious leagues or 'expert' leagues go with such a shallow set of positions.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

First Base
.293 Average
28 Home Runs
92 RBI's
81 Runs
2 SB
Comment: Twenty years ago, 28 homers was quite an accompishment. Now, it's what mixed leagues owners should expect from a first baseman.

I can't resist knowking this. Maybe 40 years ago, 28 HRs was an accomplishment. 20 years ago, the league leaders hit 49 HRs, and there were about 40 guys who hit more than 30.

[Ender]

First Base
.293 Average
28 Home Runs
92 RBI's
81 Runs
2 SB
Comment: Twenty years ago, 28 homers was quite an accompishment. Now, it's what mixed leagues owners should expect from a first baseman.

I can't resist knowking this. Maybe 40 years ago, 28 HRs was an accomplishment. 20 years ago, the league leaders hit 49 HRs, and there were about 40 guys who hit more than 30.

In 1986 only one player hit 40 HR's, the 7th highest total was just 31 HR's and only 18 players hit 29+. 20 years ago hitting 28 HR's made you a good HR hitter.