Ryan Braun by the Numbers in 2011: The Obvious and the Obscure

In 2010, Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun put up All-Star numbers which, nonetheless, were among the worst of his MLB career, with all-time lows in homers, triples, steals, slugging percentage and other hitting and baserunning categories. 

Braun rebounded with a magnificent 2011 campaign. He had his first 30-30 season, in which many  of his power and speed numbers were career highs, and helped lead the Brewers through a magical 2011 that culminated in their first division title in 29 years. 

Braun’s singular season earned him the NL MVP award. 

And now, he faces a possible 50-game suspension in 2012, due to alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. 

The initial uproar over the alleged positive PEDs test has subsided a bit. Let’s step back from the rhetoric pro and con, and take a closer look at some of Braun’s 2010 and 2011 statistics, some obvious, some more obscure, courtesy of baseball-reference.com.

Speed 

In 2010, Braun had a career low 14 steals. 

In 2011, he swiped a career best 33 bags, more than double his 2010 output. 

Of those 33 steals, 27 were of second base. His previous career-high for steals of second was less than half that number: 11, in 2009 and 2010.

Additionally, after grounding into a career-high 17 double plays in 2010, Braun was doubled up just nine times in 2011.

Finally, he was out-on-base (OOB) 10 times in 2011, after being OOB only twice in 2010 and only 12 times in his entire career prior to 2011.

OOB is one measure of aggressive baserunning, and counts the number of instances where a baserunner is picked off, thrown out seeking an extra base and the like (excluding caught stealing and force-outs).

Power

In 2010, Braun hit a career-low 25 home runs. Of these, just two were to the opposite field (CF/RF or RF).

In 2011, he slugged 33 homers. His opposite field production soared, as 12 of his 33 homers were either CF/RF or to RF. 

Thanks in part to the nearly one-third increase in homers and six-fold increase in triples, and to his league-leading 77 extra base hits, Braun’s slugging percentage jumped nearly 100 points, from .501 in 2010, to a league-best .597.

His ISO, or isolated power number, plummeted in 2010 to a career-low .197. In 2011, it was .265, due to the increase in triples and homers. 

Power and Speed

In 2010, Braun hit only one triple, a career low.

In 2011, Braun legged out six triples.

His power/speed figure (a Bill James metric that focuses solely on homers and steals) went from a career-low 17.9 in 2010, to a career-high 33 in 2011. 

What do all these statistics tell us? Well, under the old saying about "lies, damned lies, and statistics," perhaps nothing. 

Regardless of what conclusions can be drawn from a series of numbers, for the sake of Braun, the Brewers and MLB, let’s hope his 2011 production was due to heads-up aggressive baserunning and legitimate improvement in his strength, speed and conditioning, and not to any use of PEDs.

There’s enough scandal in sports right now without one of baseball’s young superstars being sidelined for 50 games next spring.