Of the 633 players who had at bats last year (not counting pitchers):
Five earned $10 or more under OBP rules than Batting Average.
33 earned $5 or more under OBP rules than BA.
On the negative side, 28 lost $5 or more under OBP rules than BA.
Clearly, values are going to shift, especially for the hitters with especially high and low walk rates, but they will also much better reflect a hitter’s very real baseball skills. That is, his ability to take a walk is a reason hitters like Dan Uggla and Josh Willingham received as many at bats last year as they did. By getting on base a fair amount, they continued to have value even when they weren’t hitting very successfully. It is this aspect of the game that makes OBP a more valuable category than BA.
For the complete list in a spreadsheet visit RotomansGuide.com.