Why Chone Figgins, Not Ichiro, is the Best Leadoff Man in Baseball

(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

What is the job of a leadoff hitter? He should be able to do three things: get on base, steal bases, and look at a lot of pitches.

It's pretty basic. A leadoff hitter has to get on base so the batters behind him can drive him in. He should be able to steal bases to not only get in the pitcher's head, but so the following batters can more easily drive him in. A leadoff hitter also should look at lots of pitches so the rest of the batters on the team can see what's in the pitcher's arsenal.

So, keeping that in mind, let's compare the three statistics of Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels.

1. On-base percentage

Ichiro and Figgins have an extremely close on-base percentage, with Figgins (.397) just beating Ichiro (.391) out by a minuscule .006 points. On-base percentage is a better tool to evaluate a leadoff hitter because their job is to get on base and it doesn't matter how they do it.

People will point to Ichiro's hits. I will point to Figgins's walks, where he is fifth in the American League. We should evaluate walks and hits. Ichiro's walks+hits count is 196. Figgins's walk-plus-hits count is 203. You can also add plus-two to Ichiro because he's been hit by a pitch twice. So the difference between them would be five.

Advantage: Neither

2. Stolen bases

Chone Figgins has 36 stolen bases. Ichiro has 23. It's pretty basic. This is a pretty simple comparison, Figgins creates more havoc on the basepaths because he has stolen more bases.

Advantage: Figgins

3. Pitches per plate appearance

Chone Figgins is one of the more patient hitters in baseball, while this is an area where Ichiro struggles. Figgins looks at 4.17 pitches per plate appearance, good for fourth best in the American League. Ichiro only looks at 3.75 pitches per plate appearance.

Advantage: Figgins

Chone Figgins also leads the American League in runs scored (89), although we cannot hold that against Ichiro because the Angels are one of the best offenses in baseball, and the Mariners are one of the worst.

So Chone Figgins is the best leadoff hitter in baseball. Ichiro might get more hits, but Figgins gets on base just as much (and actually more). There's not a player that can get from first to third better on a base hit. Not to mention that he can hit from both sides of the plate.

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