On-base percentage, batting average, and walk rate
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In a column on this website two posts ago, I wrote about how surprised I was that Ichiro's slugging percentage—both the raw figure and his ranking—dropped significantly in Major League Baseball compared to his time in Japan. In fact, there is something else that surprised me greatly when comparing his Japanese and MLB careers: his on-base percentage (OBP).
During his time in Japan, Ichiro led the league in batting average for seven consecutive years. Throughout that period, his OBP never once fell below .400; his rankings were equally impressive, placing first in the league five times, and second and third once each.
However, in his first year in MLB (2001), while he led the league with a .350 batting average, his OBP was .381—ranking 14th. I had never imagined such a scenario, so it came as a real surprise.
In 2004, Ichiro again led the league in batting average with a high mark of .372, and his OBP was .414, good for second place. Yet, across his 19-year MLB career, that was the only year he surpassed an OBP of .400.
Ichiro led the league in batting average twice in MLB, finishing 14th and 2nd in OBP those years. But how do other players who led the league in batting average rank in terms of OBP?
I independently researched the OBP rankings of every player who led their league in batting average from the start of the modern MLB era in 1901 through last year (2025) and graphed the results. The horizontal axis represents the OBP ranking, while the vertical axis represents the number of players who led the league in batting average.
As the graph shows, it is clear that players who lead the league in batting average tend to rank highly in OBP as well. There is a point I would like to make here. While Ichiro ranked 14th in OBP in 2001, the graph reveals that there were eight players who ranked even lower than him in that category. Let me list those eight players.
OBP ranking
Willie Wilson (1982) 25
Bill Buckner (1980) 19
Tim Anderson (2019) 19
Freddy Sanchez (2006) 18
Tony Oliva (1964) 17
Dee Strange-Gordon (2015) 17
Alex Johnson (1970) 15
Trea Turner (2025) 15
The reason why Ichiro surpassed a .400 OBP in Major League Baseball only once—in 2004, when he posted an exceptionally high batting average of .372—is clear: he drew few walks.
To achieve a high OBP, it is ideal to have both a high batting average and a high walk rate. So, how do the batting average and walk rate rankings actually look for players who finished first in OBP?
First, I examined the batting average rankings of every player who led the league in OBP from 1901 to 2025 and plotted the data on a graph. The horizontal axis represents the batting average ranking, while the vertical axis represents the number of players who led the league in OBP.
The graph clearly shows a tendency for players who lead the league in OBP to also rank high in batting average.
Here, let me list the five players at the far right of the graph—that is, the five players who led the league in OBP but had the lowest batting average rankings among that group.
Batting average ranking
Mike Schmidt (1983) 49
Jason Giambi (2005) 48
Elbie Fletcher (1940) 32
Eddie Yost (1960) 30
Willie Mays (1971) 29
Mike Schmidt (1982) 29
All five players had low batting averages in the .200 range. However, all five ranked first in the league in walk rate. In other words, they compensated for their low batting averages with high walk rates to secure the top spot in OBP.
I am not particularly surprised to see Mike Schmidt appear twice in this "bottom five" group, but the inclusion of Willie Mays comes as a surprise to me. What do you think?
Next, I examined the walk rate (Bases on Balls/Plate Appearance: BB%) rankings of every player who led the league in OBP from 1901 to 2025 and plotted the data on a graph. The horizontal axis represents the BB% ranking, and the vertical axis represents the number of players who led the league in OBP.
Let us now list the names of the five players at the far right of this graph—that is, the players who ranked in the bottom five for BB% among those who led the league in OBP.
BB% ranking
DJ LeMahieu (2020) 42
Nap Lajoie (1901) 40
Nap Lajoie (1904) 31
Rod Carew (1977) 28
Larry Walker (1999) 27
All five are high-batting-average players. Even though their BB% rankings were low, they compensated for it with high batting averages, ultimately securing the top spot in OBP. None of these five players come as a surprise to me. What do you think?
Finally, let's look at a result I find particularly fascinating. These analyses revealed that only seven players have ever led the league in batting average, BB%, and OBP simultaneously. Here are those seven players.
Ted Williams 1941, 1942, 1947, 1948, 1954
Rogers Hornsby 1924, 1925, 1928
Barry Bonds 2002, 2004
Babe Ruth 1924
Arky Vaughan 1935
Juan Soto 2020
Aaron Judge 2025
It is no surprise at all that Ted Williams achieved this feat five times; it is exactly what one would expect. It is slightly surprising, It comes as no surprise—and makes perfect sense—that Rogers Hornsby follows Ted Williams with three times. As for Barry Bonds, who achieved the feat twice, I prefer not to evaluate his record given the suspected involvement of performance-enhancing drugs. The fact that Babe Ruth achieved this only once makes sense, considering he led the league in batting average only a single time—in 1924. Arky Vaughan was a standout player who led the league in OBP three times.
There are only two active players on the list: Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Soto's achievement occurred in 2020, when the season was shortened to 60 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making it difficult to compare him directly with the other players—though his performance was impressive nonetheless, despite the limited number of games.
So, what about Aaron Judge? If we set aside Barry Bonds (due to the drug-related concerns) and Soto (due to the season being more than 100 games shorter than usual), Aaron Judge becomes the first player since Ted Williams in 1954—a span of 71 years—to lead the league in batting average, BB%, and OBP all at once. This result truly speaks to Aaron Judge's greatness.
(If I've made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I'll try to make corrections or additions.)