power–speed number
{{Short description|Baseball statistic developed by Bill James}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
Power–speed number or power/speed number (PSN) is a sabermetrics baseball statistic developed by baseball author and analyst Bill James which combines a player's home run and stolen base numbers into one number.{{Cite web |last=Heisman |first=Dan |title=The 10 Biggest Roadblocks to Improvement |url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman23.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030404192148/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman23.pdf |archive-date=2003-04-04 |website=Chess Cafe}}
The formula is:
(It is the harmonic mean of the two totals.)
Power–speed number is displayed as a number with one digit after the decimal point.
James introduced the power–speed number in his commentary on Bobby Bonds, writing "it is so crafted that a player who does well in both home runs and stolen bases will rate high, and his rating is determined by the balance of the two as well as by the total."{{cite web|last=Lederer |first=Rich |url=http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2004/07/abstracts_from_15.php |title=Abstracts From The Abstracts |publisher=The Baseball Analysts |date=July 26, 2004 |access-date=January 24, 2013}}
Leaders
File:Dodgers at Nationals (53677092784).jpg
The highest single-season power–speed number was recorded in 2024 by Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases for a power-speed number of 56.39. It was previously held by Ronald Acuña Jr. who hit 41 home runs and stole 73 bases in 2023 to record a power–speed number of 52.51.
The highest career power–speed number belongs to Barry Bonds. Bonds had 762 career home runs and 514 career stolen bases for a career power–speed number of 613.9. Rickey Henderson is second on the career list at 490.4, followed by Willie Mays (447.1), Alex Rodriguez (446.8), Barry's father Bobby Bonds (386.0), and Joe Morgan (385.9).{{cite web |title=Progressive Leaders & Records for Power-Speed # |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/power_speed_number_progress.shtml |access-date=January 24, 2013 |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}{{cite web |url=http://research.sabr.org/brj/index.php/thunder-and-lightning |title=Thunder and Lightning |publisher=Research.sabr.org |access-date=January 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415210240/http://research.sabr.org/brj/index.php/thunder-and-lightning |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |url-status=dead }}
The highest active career power-speed numbers as of 2024 belong to Mike Trout (271.65), Jose Altuve (265.20), and Andrew McCutchen (259.71).{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/power_speed_number_active.shtml |title=Active Leaders & Records for Power Speed # |publisher=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=April 6, 2022}}
References
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