There has been some off-season discussion about teams looking to upgrade with patient batters who can work a count, and get on base. The "quality at-bat" may be a misnomer unless the at-bats leads to runs scored.
In 2011, the NL Central teams had the following statistics:
Team Runs Scored Plate Appearances
Reds 735 6328
Brewers 721 6113
Cards 762 6242
Pirates 610 6063
Astros 615 6148
Cubs 654 6128
How many plate appearances generated a run scored?
Team RS/ PA PA/RS
Reds 735/6328 8.61
Brewers 721/6113 8.48
Cards 762/6242 8.19
Pirates 610/6063 9.94
Astros 615/6148 9.99
Cubs 654/ 6128 9.37
But how "efficient" were teams in producing runs per plate appearance?
Which teams scored more runs per plate appearance?
Team RS/ PA RS/PA
Reds 735/6328 0.116
Brewers 721/6113 0.118
Cards 762/6242 0.122
Pirates 610/6063 0.100
Astros 615/6148 0.100
Cubs 654/ 6128 0.107
The Cardinals, who finished second with 90 wins, scored almost 20% more runs than the Pirates (72 wins) and the Astros (56 wins). The Cards were 3.4% more efficient in their team at-bats than the first place Brewers (96 wins) who were close to efficiency of the Reds (79 wins). To look at it another way, it took the Astros almost 2 more at-bats than the Cardinals to score a run. It took the Cubs almost 1.33 more at-bats than the Cardinals to score a run.
