A couple of weeks ago, I read a book, which was written by a famous writer. In the book, the author indicated that a player didn’t have a high batting average in the postseason, however, he kept doing his job, which was getting on base.
Moreover, the writer mentioned the batter’s high on-base percentage in his career during the playoffs. After reading the book, I was just wondering which players had a high on-base percentage in the postseason over the past few years. To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.
Let’s not go too far, so we take a look at the on-base percentage from 2020 to 2022.
Max Muncy missed the 2021 playoffs due to injury. However, he’s very good at getting on base. In the 2020 postseason, he collected 15 hits and drew 20 walks in 18 games. In particular, he had 9 walks in the 2020 NLCS. Muncy owned a .438 OBP in the 2020 playoffs. Last year, the Dodgers fell short in the postseason. However, Muncy still did his job, collecting 4 hits and drawing 2 walks across 4 games. In these 2 postseasons, his on-base percentage was over .420.
In the meantime, Freddie Freeman won the 2020 NL MVP award. He’s always a dangerous hitter that no one can ignore. From 2020 to 2022, he had an on-base percentage over .400 in the playoffs. In those 3 postseasons, Freeman had 34 hits, 23 walks and he got hit by pitch 3 times. The Braves won the 2021 World Series title and in the 2021 postseason, Freeman collected 17 hits and drew 12 walks over 16 games.
In addition, it might be very difficult to forget Randy Arozarena’s great performance in the 2020 postseason. He had 29 hits, 8 walks and got hit by pitch once over 20 postseason games in 2020. Arozarena also hit well in the 2021 playoffs, collecting 5 hits and drawing 4 walks through 4 games. Last year, he had 1 hit and 1 walk in 2 postseason games. From 2020 to 2022, he had an OBP over .400 in the playoffs.
Finally, Bryce Harper had 22 hits, 6 walks and 1 HBP in the 2022 playoffs and his OBP was over .400. Furthermore, Harrison Bader had a great postseason last year. He was traded to the Yankees last August. In the 2022 postseason, he slashed .333/.429/.833 with 5 home runs and 6 RBI in 9 games. From 2020 to 2022, he played 13 games in the postseason. Bader collected 11 hits, drew 5 walks and got 4 HBPs.
When we look at these players who owned an on-base percentage over .400 in the postseason from 2020 to 2022, they certainly contributed to their teams in the playoffs. Randy Arozarena’s great performance in the 2020 postseason is surely a memorable one. However, Max Muncy also did his job. In the 2020 postseason, Arozarena’s OBP was .442 and Muncy had a .438 OBP. There’s little difference. As the regular season will come to an end soon, let’s see who will get on base very often in the 2023 playoffs.
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