I initially created Baseball Graphs to develop new and better ways of presenting baseball statistics. The 2003 season was my first full-season attempt, and it turned out pretty well. I now spend a lot of my time creating and formatting the baseball stats at The Hardball Times.
Along the way, I've also picked up the writing bug. I spend most of my energy writing for THT, but sometimes I like to write about more geeky stuff, baseball research and things like that. That's what this blog is for.
I'm very interested in graphics and other information display, so I'll probably post links to creative stuff like that. I also plan to write historical articles that complement the historical graphs. And I have inexplicably developed an interest in baseball win-related stats, such as Bill James's Win Shares and something called Win Probability Added. So you can expect a few posts about that stuff too.
If you're interested, I've created a complex spreadsheet full of WPA logic, which you can download at ftp.baseballgraphs.com/wpa. If you'd like to read more about Win Shares, try these links:
Win Shares Intro
From a team’s perspective…
Regarding the question of how well the White Sox handle groundballs (vs. Jon Garland's ability to induce fieldable groundballs), here is a batted ball stats table for the White Sox pitchers and fielders as a whole. They look about average overall. Meanwhile, check out the difference between 2004 and 2005.CHW | |||||||||||||||||
| Net Runs per Ball | % of Batted Balls | %/OF | %/PA | Total Net Runs | |||||||||||||
| BFP | OF | LD | GB | OF% | LD% | GB% | HR | K | BB | OF | LD | GB | IF | NIP | Tot | R/G | |
| 2002 | 6131 | 0.00 | 0.38 | -0.11 | 33% | 20% | 42% | 10% | 15% | 10% | -6.7 | 347.1 | -206.3 | -55.3 | -90.4 | -13.6 | -0.1 |
| 2003 | 6067 | -0.02 | 0.37 | -0.13 | 31% | 22% | 42% | 10% | 17% | 9% | -25.3 | 355.1 | -229.7 | -38.4 | -127.7 | -71.9 | -0.5 |
| 2004 | 6189 | 0.07 | 0.33 | -0.09 | 33% | 19% | 44% | 12% | 16% | 9% | 110.4 | 282.1 | -178.3 | -46.8 | -114.3 | 50.0 | 0.3 |
| 2005 | 6176 | 0.00 | 0.32 | -0.11 | 31% | 21% | 44% | 10% | 17% | 8% | 2.6 | 304.3 | -219.6 | -50.6 | -141.4 | -115.6 | -0.7 |
| Avg. | 6141 | 0.01 | 0.35 | -0.11 | 32% | 21% | 43% | 11% | 17% | 9% | 18.7 | 321.9 | -208.9 | -47.7 | -118.3 | -39.8 | -0.2 |
| Vs. MLB | 0.03 | 0.36 | -0.10 | 31% | 21% | 44% | 11% | 17% | 10% | 47.4 | 325.8 | -193.5 | -45.3 | -113.2 | 10.2 | 0.1 | |
And here's a special wacky case, Neal Cotts:
Cotts, Neal | |||||||||||||||||
| Net Runs per Ball | % of Batted Balls | %/OF | %/PA | Total Net Runs | |||||||||||||
| BFP | OF | LD | GB | OF% | LD% | GB% | HR | K | BB | OF | LD | GB | IF | NIP | Tot | R/G | |
| 2003 | 69 | -0.06 | 0.42 | -0.32 | 21% | 38% | 31% | 11% | 14% | 25% | -0.5 | 6.3 | -3.8 | -1.0 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 1.8 |
| 2004 | 281 | 0.16 | 0.25 | -0.13 | 32% | 20% | 44% | 18% | 21% | 12% | 9.7 | 9.7 | -10.5 | -1.5 | -6.5 | 1.3 | 0.2 |
| 2005 | 248 | -0.06 | 0.14 | -0.11 | 29% | 18% | 46% | 2% | 23% | 13% | -2.8 | 3.8 | -8.1 | -2.8 | -6.5 | -16.4 | -2.5 |
| Avg. | 199 | 0.04 | 0.23 | -0.14 | 30% | 21% | 44% | 11% | 21% | 14% | 1.4 | 5.4 | -7.1 | -1.6 | -4.5 | -6.0 | -1.1 |
| MLB Avg. | 0.03 | 0.36 | -0.10 | 31% | 21% | 44% | 11% | 17% | 10% | 1.5 | 10.6 | -6.3 | -1.5 | -3.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | |
Hey Studes, can I see the data for Neal Cotts?
His peripheral for the last two seasons are practically identical, with the only difference being HR rate. I’d like to see if there was anying in the data that suggests it’s anything but two fluke seasons.
Sure thing, Cheat. I’ve added him to the post. Check out that crazy line drive reading (0.14 net runs? almost certainly random) and 2% of OF for HR.
From my observation this year, Cotts gave up a ton of those weak, jam-shot ‘line drives’ to short and second. Even when he was getting tagged for all those HR’s in ‘04, he was making a lot of people look really silly.
His LD results from the last two seasons, almost remind me of Mariano Rivera’s. And while I’m not comparing the two in terms of pitching talent or repertoire, Cotts certainly has some of the same attributes. Cotts’ fastball is the sneakiest in baseball, while Mariano’s cutter is the deadliest.
This has probably been mentioned somewhere, but are these numbers park-adjusted?
...are these numbers park-adjusted?
The short answer is yes. The long, correct answer is that some of the factors have been adjusted for ballparks. Specifically, the net run impacts per batted ball (GD, OF and LD) have been adjusted for ballpark, as has the home run rate per OF.
But, as described in the Hardball Times Annual, parks can impact lots of stuff, including strikeout rates and the frequency of batted balls (believe it or not, more groundball are hit at Jacobs than on the road). Those more “esoteric” park adjustments haven’t been applied because they have less of an impact in general.
| <<Previous Article: Pitcher Tables at THT | Next Article: Gustavo Chacin>> |