Loading... Please wait...
John Dewan's Stat of the Week
The Best Baserunning Team in MLB
January 09, 2015 After the playoffs, you’d be expected to think that the Royals were far and away the best baserunning team in baseball in 2014. Royals Alex Gordon and Terrance Gore were the only two players with more than two steals in the postseason, and that does not even mention the [...]
Are Defensive Runs Saved Predictive?
December 31, 2014 Defensive analytics have grown in leaps and bounds in the last decade. At Baseball Info Solutions (BIS), we eat, sleep and breathe defense, but there is always more to learn. A recent research project uncovered some remarkable new information. One of the public perceptions has been that a player needs [...]
The Downside of the Recent Padres Acquisitions
December 19, 2014 The Padres have had a lot of trouble in recent seasons adding power to their lineup. Current division rival Adrian Gonzalez has four of the team’s five seasons with 30 or more home runs since 2002. The other belongs to recently re-signed Yankee Chase Headley, who was unable [...]
The Flat Bat Award 2014
December 04, 2014 While 2014 continued the overall decline in power of recent seasons, it was something of a renaissance for bunting. In particular, Billy Hamilton and Dee Gordon took advantage of their first full seasons of major league playing time to attempt 43 and 40 bunt hits, respectively. With [...]
Mark Buehrle – One of the Most Durable Pitchers of All Time
November 25, 2014 Cy Young, Warren Spahn, Gaylord Perry, Christy Mathewson. And Mark Buehrle. That’s an amazing list. How does Mark Buerhrle get on that list? In recent years, baseball has moved more and more toward specialization. In the early 1900s, starters would routinely finish the games they started, [...]
Is Madison Bumgarner the World's #1 Starting Pitcher?
November 14, 2014 Bill James has a ranking system called the World's #1 Starting Pitcher. Bill introduced the idea in an article on Bill James Online in September of 2011, and it has been fully explained and updated through the end of the regular season in the just-released 2015 Bill James Handbook. [...]
Giants Defensive Positioning a Big Assist in Game 7 Victory
November 05, 2014 Madison Bumgarner will be remembered as the hero of the Giants’ 2014 World Series title, and he deserves every accolade. After holding the Royals to one run in Game 1 and no runs in Game 5, Bumgarner entered Game 7 in relief on two days rest and held the Royals scoreless from [...]
The 2014 Fielding Bible Awards
October 30, 2014 THE 2014 FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS have been officially announced. While in previous years there have been nine award winners—one for each position—this year there are ten. We have added a Multi-Position award to recognize the value of defensive versatility to play multiple positions and to play them each well. Of the ten winners, six [...]
Who Gives a Shift?
October 23, 2014 The 2015 Bill James Handbook will be on bookshelves on November 1, but we wanted to give you a bit of a sneak preview. This is an abridged version of the introduction for the new Shifts section. Let’s address the main question first. Who does give a shift? Answer: [...]
Who are the 2014 Fielding Bible Award / Gold Glove Contenders? (Part II)
October 06, 2014 Last week, we looked at the leading candidates for both the 2014 Fielding Bible Awards and the Gold Gloves Awards at first base, second base, third base, shortstop, and catcher. Today, we’ll do the same for pitchers and outfielders. As in the previous article, the numbers next [...]