There was an article a few days ago from ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick discussing Detroit Tigers superstars Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. The article details the pair's friendship since Fielder arrived in in Detroit prior to the start of the 2012 season.

Among other things, Crasnick's article featured a detailed quote (near the end) from former Tigers pitcher Jack Morris. Crasnick quoted Morris as saying:

"They're [Fielder and Cabrera] the quintessential back-to-back frickin' threats in the lineup"

The quote from Morris tickled my nerdy baseball side and I decided to put Jack's quote to the test to see if in fact, Miggy and Fielder were "the quintessential frickin' threats" he proclaimed them to be.

Below are all three and four hitters from the 2012 regular season ranked by wRC (weighted runs created) broken down by team. These numbers are only for three and four hitters who started the game in that spot (throws out pinch hitters).


**I used 75 plate appearances in order to remove the guys who filled in. Basically, I wanted the regular 3 & 4 hitters.

The results are pretty clear. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder were monsters during the 2012 regular season from the three and four spots in the lineup. The next closest team were the Milwaukee Brewers with 243 wRC thanks to terrific seasons from Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez.

While most teams had a regular duo of three and four hitters, some teams used several players (for various reasons) in the middle of the order. For example, the Cleveland Indians created 166 wRC from the three and four spots this season using seven different hitters.

Below is a table of players just for the 2012 season by wRC and lineup spot. All three and four hitters.


Pretty easy to see why the Tigers were at the top of the list. Players like Andrew McCutchen and Chase Headley will continue to fly under the radar (to casual baseball fans) until their respected teams start winning. However, they are still very good at creating offense.

To dig deeper, I wanted to see how the 2012 Tigers Duo compared to other three and four hitters from previous seasons. Were Cabrera and Fielder a one-of-a-kind duo in 2012, or were other teams just as good in previous years?

Below is a chart that is identical to the the first chart posted, but it also includes the 2011 and 2010 seasons.


Over the past three seasons, the Tigers 2012 duo of Fielder and Cabrera was the best in all of baseball in terms of wRC. Although Fielder left the Brewers and contributed to the Tigers in 2012, Aramis Ramirez did a significant job in filling in for Prince, helping Braun boost the Milwaukee Brewers near the top again in 2012.