Michael Young’s 2012 season didn’t impress a whole lot of people. Baseball-Reference calculates his WAR at -2.4, the worst mark for any player, hitter or pitcher, in either league. FanGraphs calculates his WAR at -1.4 with only four players across both leagues compiling a worse WAR, all hitters.
Both sites agree he was bad at both offense and defense. Baseball-Reference calculates his oWAR at -1.0 (only ten players across both leagues had a worse mark) and his dWAR at -2.2 (only Rickie Weeks had a worse mark across both leagues). FanGraphs calculates his wOBA at .297, which is 104th best of the 114 players across both leagues with at least 550 plate appearances and gives him an UZR/150 rating of -20 or worse at both second and third base.
So he didn’t have a good year.
He has before, though. And recently.
| Year | bWAR | fWAR |
| 2008 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 2.5 | 3.1 |
| 2010 | 1.6 | 2.6 |
| 2011 | 2.1 | 3.7 |
| 2012 | -2.4 | -1.4 |
So there was a big drop off in 2012 relative to recent years.
Where would his total WAR have ranked among Phillie batters over the last five years? The table below shows the top three hitters by WAR for each of the last five seasons as well as Young’s bWAR and fWAR and where that would rank among Phillie hitters:
| Year | bWAR | fWAR | |
| 2008 | 1 | Utley 8.8 | Utley 8.3 |
| 2008 | 2 | Rollins 5.3 | Rollins 5.6 |
| 2008 | 3 | Victorino 4.2 | Werth 5.2 |
| 2008 | - | Young 2.8 (5) | Young 2.8 (6) |
| 2009 | 1 | Utley 8.0 | Utley 8.2 |
| 2009 | 2 | Werth 4.2 | Werth 5.0 |
| 2009 | 3 | Howard/Victorino 3.5 | Howard 4.6 |
| 2009 | - | Young 2.5 (T-6) | Young 3.1 (6) |
| 2010 | 1 | Utley 5.7 | Utley 5.4 |
| 2010 | 2 | Werth 4.3 | Werth 5.3 |
| 2010 | 3 | Ruiz 3.9 | Ruiz 4.4 |
| 2010 | - | Young 1.6 (7) | Young 2.6 (6) |
| 2011 | 1 | Victorino 5.2 | Victorino 5.9 |
| 2011 | 2 | Utley 3.7 | Utley 4.0 |
| 2011 | 3 | Ruiz 2.6 | Rollins 3.9 |
| 2011 | - | Young 2.1 (6) | Young 3.7 (4) |
| 2012 | 1 | Ruiz 4.4 | Ruiz 5.5 |
| 2012 | 2 | Utley 2.9 | Rollins 4.9 |
| 2012 | 3 | Rollins 2.3 | Utley 3.2 |
| 2012 | - | Young -2.4 (26) | Young -1.4 (26) |
By fWAR, his 2011 season would have had him fourth with the Phillies. By bWAR, his 2008 season would have had him fifth. Those are the only two years times in the last five seasons his total WAR would have had him in the top five for the Phillies using the calculation of either site.
In this mailbag from the Phillies web site, Todd Zolecki discusses the possibility that Ruf will start the year at Triple-A.
January 2nd, 2013 on 2:43 pm
Whoa. Not a good year last year for our new 3rd baseman. We could really use him to reacquaint himself with the gaps. Would not hurt if he could stop some balls at third either.
The urgency for him to do so grows in direct proportion to the likelihood that both our corner outfield positions will be platooned. I had hoped that one of those corners would hit a legitimate 5th in the order. Kind of thinking that Young has to hit there now.
There are an awful lot of All Star appearances represented in our infield this coming year. One hopes that is not just a fond memory of the past. One more real burst from all of them would go a long way towards covering our outfield butts.
Doc. No matter what, Doc is the season, though, isn’t he?
January 2nd, 2013 on 2:50 pm
I think there’s a really good chance that Young will hit well in 2013. I think there’s also a chance that he’ll be so bad at third it just won’t matter. Let’s hope that’s not the case and there really is something to getting him a full-time job at one position.
But it makes me nervous.
I think Halladay’s probably the most important Phillie in 2013. Huge off year for him in 2012. Hope he comes back.