After last night's stellar game in which Vernon drove in a run with a sac fly, had a base hit and scored a run, and actually made a good catch for once on a hard liner to the warning track in LF that saved a run rather than his usual lackluster run-costing clanker, it is clear that Vernon is transforming much the same way that Brandon Wood transformed into an all star future hall of famer after he happened to hit a home run once upon a time. Vernon only struck out twice, only stranded 4 runners in the game and raised his batting average to a remarkable .181. Not only is his OBP at a stellar .223 but his slugging percentage is a whopping .257. His grand totals of 1 home run and 6 RBI's in the first 25 games are definitely what you're looking for from a cleanup hitter. The Angels are truly blessed.  

Poll

Who or what is Vernon transforming into?

17%

Big Splash

21 votes

23%

Easy Money

29 votes

16%

VDub

20 votes

34%

an unincorporated city

42 votes

8%

other (specify below)

11 votes

123 votes | Poll has closed

Angels' stats through Apr 25. All this does is compare the two numbers and give you a ratio that tells you how many runners a hitter will leave on base for every run he drives in. Other things like GIDP aren't factored in but could be if anyone has the time to do that.

                                                LOB   RBI   Ratio

Aybar		26	3	8.67
Abreu		37	10	3.70
Hunter		31	7	4.43
Matsui		35	11	3.18
Morales		32	16	2.00
Rivera		27	8	3.37
Kendrick		28	9	3.11
Izturis		12	8	1.50
Wood		26	2	13.00
Mathis		17	3	5.67
Napoli		11	2	5.50
Evans		1
Wilson		2
Willits		3

As a team the Angels have stranded 288 while driving in 79, their team LOB ratio is 3.64 which is pretty close to the AL average which is 3.45 based on 3813 LOB and 1105 RBI. The best LOB ratio belongs to the Rays who are at 2.32 while the worst are the Orioles at 4.86. Coincidentally (or not) these two teams have the best and worst W-L records in the league. However, Det at 10-9 has the second worst LOB ratio at 4.23 while KC is 7-11 and has the 4th best LOB ratio at 3.24.

Next are the guys who've stranded the most runners. Half of them have driven in a lot of runs too though. To compare, the highest Angels LOB totals last year came in August when Juan Rivera stranded 52 runners and Bobby Abreu stranded 50.

LOB Leaders						LOB	RBI	Ratio
Cuddyer, Min						48	17	2.82
Morneau, Min						45	15	3.00
Inge,Det						42	8	5.25
Kouzmanoff, Oak						42	11	3.82
Ordonez, Det						41	14	2.93
Atkins,Bal						39	5	7.80
Granderson, NY						39	7	5.57
Sweeney, Oak						38	11	3.45
Lopez,Sea						38	9	4.22
Teixeira,NY						37	8	4.62
Callaspo, KC						37	11	3.36
Abreu, LAA						37	10	3.70
Overbay, Tor						36	5	7.20
Kubel, Min						36	8	4.50

The next group of guys are the worst so far at leaving runners on, in no particular order: 

Coldest						LOB	RBI
Aybar, LAA						26	3
Wood, LAA						26	2
C Davis, Tex						28	1
Teagarden, Tex						17	0
Arias, Tex						17	1
Ichiro, Sea						26	2
Figgins, Sea						23	5
Hudson, Min						29	5
Laird, Det						24	1
Avila, Det						19	0
Santiago, Det						20	2
Pierre, Chi						23	1
Beckham, Chi						24	3
Pierzynski, Chi						25	2
LaPorta, Cle						34	1
Ortiz, Bos						33	4
Markakis, Bal						22	3
Lugo, Bal						18	0

The last group are the best performers, those who strand the fewest runners for every one they drive in. Maicer continues to do well and Kendry is heating up.

Top 20						LOB	RBI	Ratio
Cruz, Tex						21	17	1.23
Andrus, Tex						10	7	1.43
Choo, Cle						19	13	1.46
Cabrera, Det						33	22	1.50
Izturis, LAA						12	8	1.50
Youkilis, Bos						17	11	1.54
Pena, TB						29	18	1.61
Crawford, TB						20	12	1.67
An Jones, Chi						15	9	1.67
J Guillen, KC						29	17	1.70
Bautista, Tor						21	12	1.75
Wigginton, Bal						21	12	1.75
Bartlett, TB						18	10	1.80
Burrell, TB						17	9	1.89
Wells, Tor						25	13	1.92
Gutierrez, Sea						23	12	1.92
Konerko, Chi						27	14	1.93
Morales, LAA						32	16	2.00
Kotchman, Sea						28	14	2.00
Pedroia, Bos						26	13	2.00

Here's an update as of Apr 18. I've switched the LOB/RBI number from a pct to a number that represents how many runners would be left on base for every run driven in. ex: Aybar has 14 LOB and 3 RBI, his LOB Ratio is 4.67 which means he'll leave 4.67 runners stranded for every 1 he drives in. Lower number is better obviously.  Angels stats first:

                                                                                                     RBI   LOB   Ratio

Aybar		3	14	4.67
Abreu		7	27	3.86
Hunter		6	18	3.00
Matsui		8	24	3.00
Morales		6	27	4.50
Rivera		7	17	2.43
Kendrick		5	20	4.00
Izturis		5	7	1.40
Wood			18	inf
Mathis		3	14	4.67
Napoli		1	4	4.00
Evans			1
Wilson			1
Willits			3

AL Leaders in LOB next. I also included their RBI and their ratio since high LOB totals don't necessarily mean a bad ratio if enough runners are driven in. Overbay and Lopez are the worst of this group, Callaspo and Cuddyer the best. 

LOB Leaders	LOB	RBI	Ratio
Morneau, Min	36	8	4.50
Cuddyer, Min	31	10	3.10
Kouzmanoff, Oak	31	6	5.17
Granderson, NY	31	7	4.43
Overbay, Tor	30	3	10.00
Callaspo, KC	29	10	2.90
Ordonez, Det	29	9	3.22
Abreu, LAA	27	7	3.86
Morales, LAA	27	6	4.50
Peralta, Cle	27	4	6.75
Lopez, Sea	27	3	9.00
R Davis, Oak	27	5	5.40
M Young, Tex	26	6	4.33

Next we have a group of guys who are stone cold so far, in no particular order:. 

Coldest	LOB	RBI
Wood, LAA	18	0
C Davis, Tex	20	1
Teagarden, Tex	14	0
Hamilton, Tex	17	2
Ichiro, Sea	20	3
Griffey, Sea	11	1
Hudson, Min	22	4
Punto, Min	11	1
Laird, Det	16	1
Santiago, Det	16	0
Pierre, Chi	15	1
Pyrzienski, Chi	13	1
LaPorta, Cle	20	1
Hafner, Cle	20	3
Ortiz, Bos	23	2
Ellsbury, Bos	14	1
Martinez, Bos	22	4
Jones, Bal	18	2

 Last but not least, the best performers in the first 2 weeks.

Bestest	LOB	RBI	Ratio
Cruz, Tex	14	15	0.93
Choo, Cle	12	12	1.00
Pedroia, Bos	15	13	1.15
And Jones, Chi	7	6	1.17
Pena, TB	15	12	1.25
Wells, Tor	15	11	1.36
Wigginton, Bal	14	10	1.40
Izturis, LAA	7	5	1.40
Cabrera, Det	21	14	1.50
Crawford, TB	12	8	1.50
Podsednik, KC	9	6	1.50
Gutierrez, Sea	14	8	1.75
Mauer, Min	18	10	1.80
Longoria, TB	18	10	1.80
Youkilis, Bos	11	6	1.83
Jeter, NY	17	9	1.89
Quentin, Chi	22	11	2.00
Burrell, TB	10	5	2.00
Lind, Tor	21	10	2.10
Pennington, Oak	21	10	2.10
J Guillen, KC	22	10	2.20
Barton, Oak	16	7	2.29
Kotchman, Sea	19	8	2.37
Konerko, Chi	19	8	2.37