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A question before I start: does anybody know good ways to display visualize percentiles? Here I am using shades of green and red to distinguish between the 95th, median, 5th percentile of OPS, but I feel like what I got know could be much better. I also want work on adding tick-lines to better show where players are in there career.
The guy on this chart is Miguel Hernandez. The black line shows Miguel Hernandez's rolling OPS over his previous 600 plate appearances. This means where the line begins show Hernandez's OPS in career PA's 1-600.
Where the line ends is his OPS from career PA's ~6800-7400. I know a player isn't defined by his OPS, but I think it may be the best simple way of conveying a batters performance.
Coming out of Venezuela, Miguel wasn't highly touted by most scouts, but he managed a deal with the Boston organization. After 3 years in the international complex, he worked himself up to be the 97th overall prospect.
His first four years as a professional he was serviceable at the plate, but nothing remarkable. He was not improving, and if anything he was regressing. His age 25 season he began showing promise, and his age 26 season saw blossom into a MVP. I wouldn't say this is a flash in a pan season, but he would not match this performance in the immediate future.
Mr. Hernandez had quite a few sharp rises and drops in OPS throughout his career. Anybody watching him in his age 31 season would suspect that he was on the decline.
However, at age 32 he shot back up and had arguably his best season to that point. He than improved on that the following season at age 33. And than he did it again. At age 34, he posted career highs OPS and HR on route to his second MVP award. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if some elicit substances were involved with his late career resurgence.
Following his second MVP campaign, the then 35 year old tore his meniscus in April, and lost the season to it. A comeback the following year proved futile. He was relegated to the minor league, never to return to the ABL.
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