Athletics' Batters' Production: Aggregate Bases

We are just under a fifth of the way through the 2016 season and it is an off day, what better time than now to take a look at some Athletics' batting stats?

First off, let me introduce somewhat early stage concepts I call "Aggregate Bases" and "Aggregate Bases Rate".

Aggregate Bases (or "AgB") is simply a way to sum various batter outcomes to give a good estimate of bases produced by a batter.  Here is the basic equation:

AgB = Total Bases + Walks + Times Hit By Pitch + Stolen Bases + Sacrifices + Sac Flies - Times Caught Stealing - GIDPs.

Next you have AgB Rate, which simply takes the above sum and divides by plate appearances.  This gives you a rate stat similar to what a batting average, OBP or OPS would do.

Here are the Athletics' batters' AgB through 29 games:

Everyday RF and 3 Batter Josh Reddick leads the team in the counting stat, demonstrating his ability to accumulate productive bases as an every day player.

Now, for the more insightful part, taking the counting stat and turning it into a rate by dividing it by PAs.  This gives an idea of productivity per opportunity at the plate.  Here are the AgB/PA rates for your 2016 Athletics through 29 games:

Marcus Semien, who leads the team in round trippers with 7, checks in with the best AgB Rate at an appropriate-for-Oakland .510, while elder statesman Coco Crisp demonstrates his nicely-restored productivity per PA with a 2nd place .488, and catcher Stephen Vogt comes in 3rd at .479, a tick above cumulative AgB leader Reddick's .478.  Unfortunately, A's MLB corner bats bring up the last four spots (five if you count Coghlan), indicating some big league issues in areas that have a wave of potential options knocking on the door in the high minors.

Speaking of the high minors, here are the AgB Rates through Wednesday's games for some of the more notable minors bats:

Looking at the numbers and levels, gotta assume that Renato Nunez is the man knocking most loudly on the Oakland Coliseum door if the corner bats continue to hibernate.  Especially given that he is already on the 40 man roster.  Also, Ryon Healy is simply rocking the ball in the early going of his repeat of the AA level.

So, in the comments, tell the AN community what you think about both the measure and the A's performance.  Some have floated the idea of weighting some outcomes more than others, or even scrapping sacrifices (I tend to like rewarding the pro at bat, but I see the argument both ways).  Ideally, AgB/PA is a way to see OPS with a little more "baseball flavor" by accounting for some of the elements that make a batter good (e.g. stealing bases, "wearing" pitches, knocking in batters from 3rd on a timely fly ball), while knocking them back for, say, a proclivity for GIDPs (Billy Butler I am looking in your general direction).