How valuable is a home run hitter these days? It depends. There’s a sufficiently strong relationship between home runs and wRC+ (weighted runs created plus) and this season’s early results are fairly consistent.
But White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier embodies the variation. He has a 95 wRC+, which means his offensive contributions have been five percent below league average. Frazier is also tied for the American League lead with 23 home runs and many have come in important times for the White Sox. But he only has six doubles to go with those homers. There are 13 hitters in the AL tied for the top 10 in home runs, which range from 18 to 23.