2012 Saber Porn Of The Year

The BBWAA has handed out its end-of-season awards so it's time to determine the third annual Moneyballs Award For Achievement In Sabermetric Porn. Saber porn is not easily defined but I know it when I see it. Cliff Lee won this award in 2010 for his 10.28 K/BB ratio. R.A. Dickey took home the hardware in 2011 for his 2.33 BB/9. Dickey managed to improve his walk rate in 2012 but is ineligible for consideration this year because he accepted a full-time role with leading saber porn studio, and sponsor of this award, Moneyballs Productions.

Consider this year's nominees and cast your vote in the poll below:

• Desmond Jennings' 31 stolen bases with a 94% success rate, the highest rate for anyone with 30+ steals.
  
• Craig Kimbrel's 50.2% strikeout rate. He struck out just over half of the batters he faced in 62.2 innings pitched. Compare to Matt Harvey's Mets-best rate of 28.6%. Frank Francisco's mark was 23.9%. Kimbrel's K/9 was 16.66, his FIP was 0.78, and his walk rate was just 6.1%. It was a special year for the Braves reliever with the "easy gas", as Ron Darling says.
  
• Cliff Lee's 7.39 K/BB rate, the best in MLB for a starting pitcher. It's no match for his 10.28 K/BB in 2010 but it's still special. Lee finished the season with just six wins but was probably one of the ten best pitchers in the league.
  
• Yadier Molina's +16.3 runs catcher defense, according to Getting Blanked.
  
• Mike Trout. Everything about the guy. He put up an fWAR of 10.0 and an rWAR of 10.7. The second-best in MLB for each stat was 8.0 and 8.2, respectively.
  
• Brad Ziegler's 75.5% groundball rate. Unsurprisingly, he allowed just 2 home runs in 68.1 innings pitched.
  
• The Braves' outfield defense. Yes, defensive metrics are wonky, but Martin Prado, Michael Bourn, and Jason Heyward combined to post both a UZR and DRS of +56. The Braves had the third-best defensive efficiency in the league, so perhaps there is something to the stats.