Expanded League Record Book: On-Base Percentage

In our second installment of the latest series from your friendly ATVL, we have the top twenty on-base percentages from the Valley League seasons of 1994 to 2019…

1	Nick Sinay	Front Royal	2014	0.534
2	Caleb Ward	Woodstock	2019	0.530
3	Jordan Tarsovich	Strasburg	2013	0.522
4	Cole Gruber	Waynesboro	2014	0.518
5	Luke Greinke	Winchester	2007	0.517
6	Ryan Sullivan	Covington	2012	0.516
	Blake Sipe	Staunton	2012	0.516
8	Mike Schwartz	Harrisonburg	2009	0.508
9	Mike Marcinko	Waynesboro	2014	0.502
10	Tyler Townsend	Winchester	2008	0.500
11	Jason Kipnis	Covington	2007	0.498
12	Tommy Oravetz	Covington	2006	0.497
13	Aidan Nagle	Woodstock	2019	0.495
14	Spencer Packard	Front Royal	2018	0.494
15	Brad Zebedis	Strasburg	2011	0.490
16	David Stone	Staunton	2001	0.484
17	Jay Gonzalez	Harrisonburg	2011	0.483
	Gunnar McNeill	Staunton	2014	0.483
19	Andrew Eyster	New Market	2018	0.482
	Wes Clarke	Waynesboro	2019	0.482

Notes

• This is a weird one, in that every single entry, save one, on this list is between 2006 and 2019. Moneyball was published in 2003- is the book one of the reasons that OBP became more important? I have a sneaking suspicion that this might just the case. (Was David Stone just ahead of his time?)
• Nick Sinay was a master of the hit-by-pitch. For Front Royal in 2014, Sinay was hit by a pitch an incredible 19 times in about 180 regular season plate appearances. Add in his 35 walks, and you get a ridiculous .534 OBP. Now, if you’ve ever wondered, Brilliant Reader, if high HBP numbers is a skill to carry into pro ball, Sinay was also hit by a pitch 70 times in 171 pro games after being drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015. He ended his pro career with a slash line of .229/.412/.282 in 503 at-bats- maybe the most amazing slash line I’ve ever seen.
• Nine VBL teams have entries here- Waynesboro has three, seven others have two, and New Market has one. Charlottesville and Purcellville are the only franchises to not crack this list yet.
• There are also two sets of teammates on this list- 2014 Waynesboro has Cole Gruber and Mike Marcinko, and 2019 Woodstock has Caleb Ward and Aidan Nagle.
• Seven of the 20 were league MVPs.