"The Castrol Index" Columbus Crew

The "Castrol Index" is another Major League Soccer player measurement system. Of the two previous I've mentioned so far it is of the more complex variety. Here is how the creators of the system sum it up:

The Castrol Index tracks every move on the field and assesses whether it has a positive or negative impact on a team’s ability to score or concede a goal.

Seems simple enough, but it is not. Read more about it HERE.

Below is how Castrol ranks the Crew players that saw time this year. On the Left is where the player ranked in the league. On the Right is the Castrol "score".

LEAGUE RANK : CASTROL SCORE (PTS)
28 : Andy Gruenebaum : 636
32 : Jairo Arrieta : 607
39 : Chad Marshall : 584
75 : Eddie Gaven : 525
121 : Milovan Mirosevic : 483
135 : Josh Williams : 471
177 : Chris Birchall : 434
194 : Danny O'Rourke : 414
204 : Emilio Rentería : 406
210 : Federico Higuain : 396
213 : Sebastian Miranda : 392

235 : LEAGUE MEDIAN RANK

238 : Tony Tchani : 349
255 : Justin Meram : 310
261 : Nemanja Vukovic : 302
273 : Olman Vargas : 271
275 : Dilly Duka : 269
303 : Eric Gehrig : 211
306 : Carlos Mendes : 205
320 : Julius James : 179
331 : Bernardo Anor : 142
341 : Cole Grossman : 126
343 : Kevan George : 121
361 : Ethan Finlay : 85
392 : Aaron Schoenfeld : 53
416 : Matt Lampson : 29
424 : Ben Speas : 20
458 : Tommy Heinemann : 0

I spent some time with this rating model last year and determined it to be not sustainable but at the same time something worth while to pay attention to.

Going back through my notes I also notice that they have changed they way they score. It use to be a "7.65" type score, which I assumed was on a 10 pt scale. Now it is a whole number.

For the purposes of this blog I am going to turn the "league rank" on the left of the players name into a percentage.

EXAMPLE, ANDY GRUENEBAUM
Andy finished ranked 28th in the league. 470 total players were tracked. That puts Andy in the top 10%. Or, better than 94% of the league (players ranked 29-470).

I'm going to use the 94% for consistency on this blog - I like my player scores on a 100 pt scale if the entire league is involved.

94% : Andy Gruenebaum
93% : Jairo Arrieta
92% : Chad Marshall
84% : Eddie Gaven
74% : Milovan Mirosevic
71% : Josh Williams
62% : Chris Birchall
59% : Danny O'Rourke
57% : Emilio Rentería
55% : Federico Higuain
55% : Sebastian Miranda

49% : Tony Tchani
46% : Justin Meram
44% : Nemanja Vukovic
42% : Olman Vargas
41% : Dilly Duka
36% : Eric Gehrig
35% : Carlos Mendes
32% : Julius James
30% : Bernardo Anor
27% : Cole Grossman
27% : Kevan George
23% : Ethan Finlay
17% : Aaron Schoenfeld
11% : Matt Lampson
10% : Ben Speas
3% : Tommy Heinemann

Not any different order than the first list at the top of this blog, just a more usable number than... whatever that number is that Castrol uses. This number makes more sense to me. Greater than 50%? in the top half. Less than 33%? Bottom third.

Looking up and down the list, I think it works. I know that they (Castrol Index people) are still trying to come to terms with how much total player minutes steers the player score.

Of note above; Sebastian Miranda, who tallied loads of minutes, down the list. O'Rourke didn't play in over half the games but finish close to the top third of the league.

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If it looks like I'm building a model to ultimately give out one gigantic player grade, it's because I am. Right before your eyes! Watch! As I unlink these rings! Still a few more player ratings to post up yet (including my own). To the right of this blog will be all the ratings so you too can be informed about things. Especially going into the "exit interview" part of the MLS season.