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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
The Best Baserunning Teams
As we approach the All-Star Break, let’s examine the best baserunning teams so far this season. We will do so using Net Gain—a statistic created by Bill James that measures baserunning by looking at advancements on hits and outs in addition to stolen bases. Here are the best baserunning teams thus far: Team Net [...]
Miguel Montero - The Truth Shall Set You Free
On Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals stole seven bases against the Chicago Cubs, with all of them coming against the combination of Jake Arrieta at pitcher and Miguel Montero at catcher. Montero called out his pitching staff after the game, saying the reason the Nationals were able to steal so many bases was because Arrieta [...]
Scherzer On Top
On Friday night, Max Scherzer spun another gem with a 10-strikeout performance against the Mets in which he allowed one run over eight innings. With this outing, the remarkable has happened. Scherzer is now the No. 1 starting pitcher in Major League Baseball according to Bill James’ World’s #1 Starting Pitcher Rankings. This isn’t [...]
We Don't Need to Abolish the Shift
I was recently asked the following question by Mike Murphy (or as many know him, Murph), one of the premier sports radio hosts in Chicago for years: “I hear more talk again popping up of banning the shift. (MLB wants more hits, more excitement, etc.). Idea: You have Defensive Runs Saved. But, do you have [...]
Who Will Throw the Next No-Hitter?
Over the weekend, Edinson Volquez threw his first career no-hitter. It was a special evening as the current Marlins and former Royals starter dedicated his performance to Jose Fernandez and Yordano Ventura. It was also a fascinating game from purely a baseball perspective. Volquez has had a bounce-back season following a rough [...]
Twins Turnaround
Baseball Info Solutions has touched on the Minnesota Twins in a few different pieces of writing so far this season, including a previous Stat of the Week and an article on ESPN Insider (subscription required). However, what the Twins are doing on defense this season demands to be featured. It has been a [...]
Disabled List Usage
This past offseason, MLB negotiated with the Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement. Although it was one of the more minor changes from the new agreement, one issue included shortening the 15-day disabled list to 10 days. Despite being minor, this change has proven to transform how teams are treating player injuries and the disabled list this season [...]
Who's Hot and Who's Not... According to Bill James
Several years ago, Bill James created a system that measures the ‘temperature’ of a player, which illustrates if his current hitting is hot or cold. Using the Fahrenheit temperature scale, players start at a room temperature of 72 degrees and increase or decrease based on their recent performance. Let’s look at the hottest hitters through [...]
The Best and Worst Defensive Teams So Far
The Best and Worst Defensive Teams So FarWith almost a month of baseball behind us, we have gotten a glimpse at each team's defensive performance and how it might shape their season. Although it is on the earlier side to start making any definitive conclusions, it is still interesting to see where some team defenses [...]
Shifts Happen
Two weeks of baseball are now in the books. Early-season standings continue to be unpredictable, but one thing that's not is the league's increasing use of shifts. Teams are currently on pace to shift a record number of times for the sixth consecutive season. Note that all shift totals referenced in this article are shifts [...]