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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
Fernando Tatís Jr. is Amazing
By MARK SIMONEarlier this week, Padres shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr. was criticized by both his manager, Jayce Tingler, and Rangers manager Chris Woodward, after homering on a 3-0 pitch in the eighth inning when his team had a seven-run lead. Tatís was vigorously defended by baseball fans on social media.We’re not here to weigh in [...]
Stat of the Week: The Importance of Defense
By MARK SIMONOn ESPN’s broadcast of the Monday Night Baseball game between the Giants and Astros, Tim Kurkjian noted that he had studied the connection between defense and winning and found that bad defensive teams are usually losing baseball teams, unless extenuating circumstances exist, such as a high-strikeout pitching staff.We frequently look at the relationship [...]
Stat of the Week: Early Standouts on Total Runs Leaderboard
By MARK SIMONEvery season, the list of players who get off to strong starts includes a mix of well-established superstars and lesser-known players. In a shortened season, a big beginning to the season is magnified as there is less time for aberrational performances to revert back to the mean.The 2020 season has a good mix [...]
Infield Shifts are on the Rise Again?
Stop me if you've heard this before: infield shifts are more frequent this season. [...]
Stat of the Week: Who is the Best Defensive Team Entering 2020?
By Mark Simon The best defensive team in baseball entering the 2020 season seems clearcut. The Los Angeles Dodgers finished the 2019 season with an MLB-leading 126 Defensive Runs Saved. They kept the core of their position-player group almost completely intact other than swapping out Alex Verdugo for one of the game’s top defensive players, Mookie Betts. As we noted in The Fielding Bible [...]
Stat of the Week: Players Who Have Opted Out
By MARK SIMONThough the 2020 MLB season will return next week, not everyone will be coming back to play this season.Several notable players have opted out primarily due to Coronavirus-related concerns, a completely understandable decision at this time.The biggest names among those players are Giants catcher Buster Posey and Dodgers pitcher David Price.Posey and his [...]
2020 MLB Pitcher Projections
By MARK SIMON Last week we looked at the kind of numbers that MLB's top hitters are projected to put up in 2020. This week, we’ll look at what SIS projections show for top pitchers. This comes with a caveat that pitcher usage at the start of this season figures to be hard to predict. But this [...]
MLB Hitter Projections for 2020
By MARK SIMON What kind of numbers can we expect to see in a 60-game season compared to what we’re used to in 162 games? Mets first baseman Pete Alonso set the MLB rookie home run record by hitting 53 last season. SIS projections for a 162-game season had him hitting 49. Prorating that to 60 games [...]
Key Players in NPB for 2020
By MARK SIMONWe’re extremely happy that MLB announced its schedule for the 2020 season, and we’ll be providing analysis on the many things you can hopefully look forward to when the league returns next month.But today, we’re focusing on a league that just started its season – Nippon Professional Baseball.Baseball in Japan got underway last [...]
Stat of the Week: Checking in on the Defense in the KBO
With MLB owners and players still in a stalemate, the Asian baseball leagues continue to hold the spotlight for baseball enthusiasts. For now it's just the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), but Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) starts [...]