Mel Ott is one of the players who benefit historically thanks to Sabermetrics. It used to be sure he hit a lot of home runs, but he hit a high percentage of his home runs at home. Ott had a career total of 511 home runs, which is 25th on the all-time list. He was third on the list when he retired. Sure, he hit over .300 (.304) for his career, but everybody hit .300 in the 30s. Also, he ended his career during WWII when every other good player was in the war. He didn’t hit anymore when they came back. However, when people looked at the numbers and calculated formulas all the calculations came up with the same answer. Mel Ott’s career numbers for both WAR formulas (Baseball Reference and Fangraphs) and win shares showed Ott’s totals real close to Frank Robinson’s totals. In face Ott had a slight lead in all three. Some people went as far to say Ott was a better player. However, they hadn’t given Ott a timeline penalty as he played in an earlier era, where the players probably weren’t as good. I did which put Robinson ahead. I also added in other calculations that put Frank further ahead.
However, Ott is still a great player. After all I have him with the 21st best career in MLB history. One thing that wasn’t considered before was Ott walked a lot. So, he was always on base. He led the National League in on base percentage 4 times. He is 28th all time in on base percentage. Not bad for a power hitter. According to baseball reference WAR he was an above average right fielder. He led right fielders in assists 4 times and had the 3rd most assists by a right field in MLB history. He deserves his ranking.
