Ranking Righthanded Hitters

More than 75 years after his last at-bat, Hornsby is still the best righty

With another incredible season under his belt, American League MVP Miguel Cabrera is making a case as one of the best righthanded hitters of all time. But there have been many great players that batted from the right side, so as of now he doesn't even crack the top 10. In my opinion, these are the best righthanded hitters to debut after 1900. That disqualifies Honus Wagner and Nap Lajoie right off the bat, though frankly I'm not sure they would have made the final cut anyways.

For statistical comparisons I used Adjusted OPS,  scaled Runs per Plate Appearance, True Average and weighted On-Base Average to help account for parks and different scoring levels.

1. Rogers Hornsby 175 OPS+ 173 wRC+ .459 wOBA 860 Rbat
Rajah won six consecutive sabermetric Triple Crowns (seven overall), two traditional Triple Crowns, two MVP awards, and led the league in OPS+ a dozen times. The .358 career hitter also eclipsed a .400 batting average three times and batted .382/.460/.637 during the Roaring Twenties.

2. Hank Aaron 155 OPS+ 153 WRC+ .335 TAv .403 wOBA 870 Rbat
The all-time leader in RBI (2,297), total bases (6,856) and extra base hits (1,477), Hammerin' Hank is best remembered for breaking Babe Ruth's career home run record in 1974. Though Barry Bonds has since passed him, Aaron's 755 career dingers are still the most ever by a righty. His combination of consistency and longevity--20 straight seasons with at least 20 homers and and OPS+ over 100 in all but one of his 23 seasons--is unmatched for a power hitter.

3. Jimmie Foxx 163 OPS+ 158 wRC+ .460 wOBA 758 Rbat
One of the most feared hitters of all-time, Foxx led the American League in walks seven times. From 1929-1940, Foxx reached 30 home runs and 100 RBI each year while batting an aggregate .334/.440/.644. He also won three MVPs and a Triple Crown in a career with 534 home runs.

4. Willie Mays 156 OPS+ 154 wRC+ .339 TAv .409 wOBA 805 Rbat
Probably the best all-around player to ever grace the diamond, Mays slammed 660 homers in a career that spanned 22 seasons. He also won five league OPS titles, five slugging titles and four home run championships.

5. Albert Pujols 165 OPS+ 161 wRC+ .337 TAv .420 wOBA 663 Rbat
Through his first ten seasons, Pujols cemented his reputation as one of the best hitters in baseball history by winning three MVP awards (would have been more if not for Barry Bonds) and averaging 41 homers, 123 RBI, 43 doubles and 119 runs scored per season. His career OPS after the 2010 season was 1.050. Though his career appears to be in a state of decline, he's already done more than enough to bank a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction.

6. Frank Thomas 156 OPS+ 154 wRC+ .331 TAv .416 wOBA 688 Rbat
Few players have started their careers better than Thomas, who batted .330/.452/.600 through his first eight seasons and won back-to-back MVP awards, becoming the league's first righthanded hitter to do so in over 60 years. The Big Hurt finished his career with rate stats nearly identical to Mickey Mantle's and 521 home runs, same as Ted Williams and Willie McCovey.

7. Manny Ramirez 154 OPS+ 153 wRC+ .326 TAv .418 wOBA 649 Rbat
Ramirez loafed on defense and never ran out anything, which explains how he never won an MVP award (or even finish second), but his intense focus in the batter's box was unquestioned. For his career he batted .312/.411/.585 with 555 home runs and 547 doubles. ManRam was also an RBI machine, topping the century mark 12 times and driving in as many as 165 in 1999.

8. Frank Robinson 154 OPS+ 153 wRC+ .332 TAv .404 wOBA 726 Rbat
Another candidate for most feared hitter to ever step up to the plate, Robinson led the majors in intentional walks four straight years. He is the only player to win an MVP award in both leagues, winning in 1961 with the Reds and 1966 with the Orioles after winning both the conventional and sabermetric Triple Crowns.

9. Mark McGwire 163 OPS+ 157 wRC+ .333 TAv .415 wOBA 544 Rbat
Big Mac was a feast or famine type hitter, especially early on his career (.250 career average through age 30), but walked a ton and so his career OBP of .394 is actually very good. More importantly, he cranked 583 home runs and owns the best AB/HR ratio of all-time.

10. Tie Hank Greenberg 158 OPS+ 154 wRC+ .453 wOBA 433 Rbat and Joe DiMaggio 155 OPS+ 152 wRC+ .439 wOBA 529 Rbat
Due to injuries, World War II and somewhat early retirements (both called it quits after their age 36 seasons), their careers lasted just 13 seasons. But both men accomplished a great deal in that short time and were overwhelmingly dominant when they did play. Greenberg batted .313/.412/.605 for his career, winning four home run championships, four RBI titles and two MVP awards in the process. He narrowly missed breaking Lou Gehrig's league RBI record and Babe Ruth's single season home run record in successive seasons. DiMaggio's numbers were hurt by Yankee Stadium, but Death Valley didn't stop him from winning back-to-back batting titles and three MVP awards, or from making the All-Star team every year. It also didn't stop him from getting a hit in 56 consecutive games in 1941.

Honorable Mention (in no particular order)

Dick Allen 156 OPS+ 155 wRC+ .330 TAv .400 wOBA
Harry Heilmann 148 OPS+ 144 wRC+ .427 wOBA
Mike Schmidt 147 OPS+ 147 wRC+ .317 TAv .395 wOBA
Gary Sheffield 140 OPS+ 141 wRC+ .314 TAv .391 wOBA
Edgar Martinez 147 OPS+ 147 wRC+ .320 TAv .405 wOBA
Alex Rodriguez 143 OPS+ 143 wRC+ .314 TAv .400 wOBA
Harmon Killebrew 143 OPS+ 142 wRC+ .318 TAv .389 wOBA
Jeff Bagwell 149 OPS+ 149 wRC+ .321 TAv .405 wOBA
Mike Piazza 143 OPS+ 140 wRC+ .314 TAv.390 wOBA
Albert Belle 144 OPS+ 139 wRC+ .310 TAv .396 wOBA
Frank Howard 142 OPS+ 140 wRC+ .313 TAv .374 wOBA
Ralph Kiner 149 OPS+ 147 WRC+ .427 wOBA
Hack Wilson 144 OPS+ 143 wRC+ .421 wOBA
Vladimir Guerrero 140 OPS+ 136 wRC+ .309 TAv .390 wOBA

Maybe someday...
Miguel Cabrera 154 OPS+ 152 wRC+ .324 TAv .407 wOBA
Ryan Braun 146 OPS+ 148 wRC+ .315 TAv 400 wOBA
Mike Trout 166 OPS+ 163 wRC+ .350 TAv .405 wOBA

Best Offensive Baseball Season of the 1990s

This was a tough call because offense skyrocketed during this decade, and many players put up some huge seasons. Nevertheless, I feel confident in my selection.

1998 Mark McGwire (7.2 bWAR)

Big Mac had been knocking on Roger Maris's door the previous two seasons when he cranked out 52 home runs in 1996, followed by 58 moon shots in '97 (Ken Griffey Jr. had slugged 56 homers in '97 and seemed poised to challenge the record once more, but all he could do was replicate that total in '98). 1998 was the year the hulking first baseman finally got over the hump, and he shattered the 37 year-old record (and helped "save" baseball from the disastrous 1994 strike) by clearing the fences 70 times.  He had become the Babe Ruth of the modern era, a larger than life legend with Paul Bunyan strength who captivated the nation with his titanic blasts.  His new record stood for just three years before Barry Bonds upped him with 73, but McGwire's 1998 remains the signature season of the decade (even if it was fueled in part by the Andro in his locker). 

Oddly enough, he finished a distant second in the National League Most Valuable Player race to home run challenger Sammy Sosa (6.5 bWAR), who pushed the Chicago Cubs into the postseason with his major league leading 134 runs, 158 RBI, and 416 total bases.  McGwire's Cardinals finished third in the same division, but I can't overlook the fact that his OPS was nearly 200 points higher than Sosa's!  In 2011, 200 points of OPS was the difference between Jose Bautista and Michael Young; one's a serious MVP candidate, and the other isn't.  I'm convinced if they played today, the sabermetric revolution would help McGwire because voters don't seem to value old-school counting stats such as RBI anymore (although they are still important) and place more emphasis on rate stats like OPS and ERA. Ffor instance, in 2009 and 2010 Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton won MVPs because their rate stats were so impressive, even though their counting stats were good but not great.  Felix Hernandez and Zack Greinke won Cy Youngs without gaudy win totals.  Sosa's numbers are phenomenal and I understand why he got the nod over Big Mac, but if I had it my way McGwire should have won the thing. 

But I digress.  Here are some more eye-popping stats from McGwire's epic campaign:

-Besides pacing the majors in big flies, he also topped both leagues in walks (162), OBP (.470), SLG (.752), OPS (1.222) and OPS+ (216)
-Even though he was a three true outcomes hitter (a jacked up version of Adam Dunn) who batted an uninspiring .263 (roughly league average) for his career, he flirted with .300 but fell one percentage point short
-Hit a grand slam on Opening Day
-Scored 130 runs and knocked in 147
-Socked 37 home runs before the All-Star break, a new record eventually broken by Bonds.  Albert Pujols and Mark Reynolds needed all of 2011 to hit their 37
-He set a record by homering once every 7.3 at-bats, but that greedy Bonds guy broke that record, too.  At least McGwire still holds the career record with one bomb every 10.6 at-bats.
-Another point in his favor regarding the MVP award; he took his game to another level in clutch situations.  1.491 OPS with RISP and two outs, 1.367 OPS late and close, 1.315 OPS in high leverage situations, and 1.310 OPS when the game was tied.
-Was worth 8.8 bWAR with his bat, but apparently the former Gold Glover focused so much on his hitting stroke that his defense suffered tremendously; he committed a dozen errors and was worth -1.6 bWAR in the field.  If only the National League used the DH...

For the record, I was very tempted to pick Larry Walker's 1997 here because he put up monster numbers in every category, but gave the edge to McGwire because of his advantages in OPS, home runs, RBI, and the immeasurable sentimental factor (how many people remember that Walker won the MVP in '97, or nearly hit 50 home runs? Not too many). Also, he didn't have the same quality hitters around him and didn't get to spend half his games in Coors Field, which is a pretty nice place to call home if you like to swing the bat.  Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, and Tony Gwynn all might have have had a shot at this title, too, if the '94 strike didn't cut their tremendous seasons short.  I didn't think it was fair to extrapolate their numbers for the final month and a half because who's to say they wouldn't have gotten hurt or slumped down the stretch?