Walker had isolated power only 13 HOFers have exceeded

Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) is in his ninth year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

By Tracy Ringolsby

Inside the Seams

Maple Ridge, B.C., native Larry Walker, on the Hall of Fame ballot for the ninth time, has a career isolated power ranking of .252. Only 13 members of the Hall of Fame have a better isolated power ranking.

Isolated Power (ISO) is a measure of a hitter’s raw power and tells you how often a player hits for extra bases. We know that not all hits are created equally and ISO provides a quick tool for determining the degree to which a given hitter provides extra-base hits as opposed to singles. While batting average and slugging percentage each offer part of the answer, they aren’t very good at distinguishing players without being considered together, even if you know a player’s walk rate as well.

For example, a four singles and zero home runs in 10 at bats is a .400 batting average and .400 slugging percentage. One home run and zero singles in 10 at bats is a .100 batting average and .400 slugging percentage. The first player’s ISO is .000 and the second player’s ISO is .300, which tells you that the second player hits for extra bases more often. ISO doesn’t replaced a metric like OPS or wOBA, it simply helps you determine the type of player at which you’re looking.

For more detail information on Walker’s ISO, click on this link.