Friday, March 11, 2011

Introducing...MLB EloRater

Baseball Reference just came out with a pretty cool project. As they describe it, this is a community-based project with the goal of rating the best players in MLB history.

It's an awesome idea, and I think it will yield some interesting results. Right now, though, as it just launched, the rankings are somewhat ridiculous. For example, Willie Mays ranks as the 14th best position player in history. Behind Nap Lajoie, Mike Schmidt, and Rickey Henderson, among others.

WAR Graph: Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Nap Lajoie, Rickey Henderson
Click to embiggen

Seriously? It's not even close.

The way they accomplish these rankings -- they do one-on-one comparisons, and you vote on which player is better. Go vote, help improve the rankings, and contribute to this awesome project. Check it out here.

I plan on evaluating where respective Giants players rank some time in the far future, so you can look forward to that. If I remember...