Bill Batterman is the A few days ago, the Daily Brew published a column outlining the All-Time Top 10 Seasons By A Brewers Pitcher in which Mike Caldwell’s 1978 campaign came out on top. In the second installment of this series, we’ll break down the top ten seasons by a hitter in Brewers history as well as the top five offensive seasons at each position.
As in the pitching piece, this article will rely on Baseball Prospectus’ Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) to determine the rankings. One of many tools available, VORP compares a player’s offensive contributions to those of a “replacement player” at his position that is given the same percentage of his team’s plate appearances. Keep in mind that VORP does not account for a player’s defensive value; a good-hit, good-field shortstop will look the same as a good-hit, butcher-with-the-glove shortstop when comparing the two players’ VORPs. These rankings, then, are solely based on the players’ relative offensive contributions compared to others at their position after taking into account their ballpark and league. Because it is a counting stat, VORP rewards players both for hitting well and for staying in the lineup so as to accumulate more value for their team.
Before revealing the best ten offensive seasons in the club’s history, this article will rank the top five seasons by a hitter at each position. The All-Time best at each stop around the diamond includes a brief summary of the player’s season as well as a table listing their plate appearances (PA), batting average (AVG), on-base average (OBA), slugging average (SLG), on-base plus slugging (OPS), runs per game beyond what a replacement player would produce (VORPr), and VORP. The final table lists the top ten All-Time seasons, regardless of position, by a Brewers hitter.