Is current Brewers shortstop Bill Hall an All-Star?

I'm not asking whether or not he'll make the National League All-Star team next July; it's doubtful that he will (ironically, he's not even on the official print ballot). I'm not even trying to start a debate on whether or not he should make the team; plenty of worthy players get passed over each year, and the selection process is an inexact science. I'm actually asking this: Is Bill Hall, a man without an everyday starting position prior to J.J. Hardy's ankle injury, a star-caliber player in comparison to the rest of the league?

Brewers radio man Jim Powell got me thinking about this question early last week when he mentioned that Hall's hitting numbers place him among the best National League shortstops this season. Though I realized Hall was having another good season, Powell's comment prompted me to delve a bit deeper into the stats. After doing so, I think Powell was actually understating the case: statistically, Hall is among the best hitters in all of baseball.

Through this weekend's games, Hall has the highest slugging percentage among all major league shortstops (.594) -- better than Miguel Tejada (.539), better than Carlos Guillen (.492), better than Derek Jeter (.482) and better than Michael Young (.459). Accordingly, he's also got more total bases (133) than all but Tejada (252) and Young (139), players that had 58 and 79 more at bats than Hall, respectively.

Simply put (and with the caveat that he plays third, second and center on occasion), Hall is currently the best power-hitting shortstop in the game. To wit: Hall has 19 doubles, 4 triples and 15 homers -- in 224 at bats! Over 500 ABs, that translates to 42, 9 and 33. Considering he slugged .495 with 39 doubles, 6 triples and 17 homers last year, these numbers cannot be termed a fluke.

OK, so Hall is a good power-hitting shortstop. But he doesn't he also fan a heck of a lot? The answer, without any context, is yes, he certainly does. Thus far, Hall has whiffed 61 times in those 224 at-bats, an even greater clip than the 103 strikeouts he registered in 501 at-bats in 2005. But when we consider Hall's numbers not just in relation to shortstops, but to the entire league, the strikeouts do not seem quite as abhorrent.

For instance, Hall is 12th in MLB in slugging percentage. Only Albert Pujols (.751) and Jermaine Dye (.644) have a significantly higher total here than Hall -- including teammate and likely All-Star Carlos Lee (.590). And other than Pujols (just 20 strikeouts), aka, God in Cleats, Hall's 61 strikeouts aren't ridiculously high among this power-hitting company.

Hall dips a bit when you factor in on-base percentage plus slugging (OPS) -- his .918 stat ranks 33rd overall, just behind Tejada (.919) but ahead of the notoriously selective Jeter (.914). This disparity between slugging and OPS rankings points out Hall's basic weakness at the plate: he swings at most everything (he has a paltry 17 walks), though when he connects he hits the ball hard.

What about defense? Do Hall's numbers stack up as well there?

Not so much -- his 10 errors and .950 fielding percentage are not good, but the numbers are mitigated somewhat by his utility duty. Since he's taken over for Hardy at short every day, Hall has made his improved his overall consistency and made his share of highlight-reel plays.

For some more insight into the question of Hall's All-Star worthiness, think about this: Who is the Brewers most valuable player? Is it Lee, the Crew's likely representative in the Midsummer Classic? Or Chris Capuano, the stalwart of a shaky starting rotation? Or is it Hall, a swingman who allows Ned Yost to juggle the lineup, rotate his key reserves and not worry too much about the lack of production from guys like Geoff Jenkins?

I'm not ready to say Hall is the team's MVP just yet, but I'd hate to think of what the lineup would look like without him. As far as Hall's All-Star credentials, I'll argue that he needs to continue his success through the second half of the season before we can start referring to him as a star. But the question is clearly worthy of debate, which is quite a statement for a guy who started the season without an everyday position.

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Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by OMCreader on June 21, 2006 at 8:33 a.m. (report)

josh said: WRITE HIM IN EVERYONE!!!!

Posted by OMCreader on June 20, 2006 at 4:42 p.m. (report)

eaglescout said: man, i love baseball stats. seriously. i could geek out on this stuff all day. anyway, i bet Hall would get SERIOUS consideration if he could bring that average up to about .310. the slip in the last month or so may even suggest to some he's not really an "everyday" player, and thus not an allstar.