Speed Score (Spd)
Description:
Speed score (Spd) is a statistic developed by Bill James that attempts to rate how fast players are. Different locations include slightly different components, but the FanGraphs version consists of, “…Stolen Base Percentage, Frequency of Stolen Base Attempts, Percentage of Triples, and Runs Scored Percentage.”
Context:
2009 Speed Scores
| Spd | |
| Michael Bourn | 8.6 |
| Matt Kemp | 7.0 |
| Chase Utley | 6.5 |
| Adam Jones | 5.7 |
| Derek Jeter | 5.0 |
| Evan Longoria | 4.0 |
| Russell Branyon | 3.0 |
| David Ortiz | 2.1 |
| Adam Dunn | 0.8 |
Things to Remember:
- This is an area of limited research and even speed score cannot account for all the aspects of baserunning. For more information on baserunning research, read Sky Kalkman’s analysis here and FanGraphs’ attempt at tackling the issue here, here, and here.
Links for Further Reading:
