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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
Something in the water in Chi-town?
May 26, 2009 The Cubs and Sox in Chicago scored a combined 25 runs yesterday. But, as we’ll see in a moment, that was atypical of this year’s Chicago teams. (And they only won one of the two games.) We’re about a quarter of the way through the season and offense is up in baseball overall. [...]
Has defense played a part in the Rangers' first place showing thus far this year?
May 22, 2009 The Texas Rangers finished 79-83 last season, a full 21 games out of first place in the AL West. Team defense was no small part of the problem; their defense cost them 27 runs last year, ranking them 27th out of 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Over the winter, reigning American League [...]
Are pitchers hitting batters more often?
May 15, 2009 Doesn't it seem like a ton more players are being hit by pitches this year? Here in Chicago it's even more pronounced. Bobby Jenks of the White Sox was just fined for throwing behind a batter, and Ryan Dempster of the Cubs stirred up the beehive when he hit Ryan Braun in the [...]
Soriano bats leadoff—once and for all
April 28, 2009 I hope it's finally put to bed. This past weekend Lou Piniella experimented with his lineup and put Alfonso Soriano in the number–three slot in the batting order. He did it Friday and Saturday. The Cubs lost both games while Soriano went 1–for–8 with three whiffs. He was back at leadoff on [...]
Who are the most valuable half-and-half players?
March 20, 2009 The Bill James Gold Mine 2009 began shipping last Tuesday. Bill did another fantastic job. I wanted to share with you one of the nuggets he wrote: *** Four of the very best players in baseball in 2008 weren't serious contenders for the MVP Award or the Cy Young Award, because [...]
Who has the best outfield defense?
February 27, 2009 In 2008, it wasn't close. The New York Mets clearly had the best defense, based on Defensive Runs Saved from The Fielding Bible—Volume II. Outfielders saved 56 runs for the Mets last year. Using the rule of thumb that the value of a win is about 10 runs, that's five to six extra [...]
How often does a leadoff man come up with no one on base?
February 19, 2009 How often does a leadoff man come up with no one on base? 67% of the time. Or conversely, 33% of the time with at least one man on base. Overall, MLB hitters come up with at least one man on base about 45% of the time. Here's the breakdown by lineup position: [...]
The 2010 Fielding Bible Awards
November 01, 2010 THE 2010 FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS have been officially announced after the first unanimous winner in the five-year history of the Fielding Bible Awards. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina won his fourth consecutive Fielding Bible Award with a perfect score of 100, 26 points ahead of second-place finisher Carlos Ruiz. Joining Molina as repeat winners are [...]
Trick or Treat! Scary Stats for Halloween
October 29, 2010 With Halloween coming up on Sunday, we offer you a top ten list of the "scariest" stats from this past baseball season. If you have a fear of such things, we suggest you stop reading now! 10) The worst hitter in baseball playing as a regular last year was Baltimore's Cesar Izturis with an MLB-low on-base [...]
Manny Being Manny... in the Playoffs
September 03, 2010 Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams was thrilled to acquire veteran slugger Manny Ramirez from the Dodgers this week, but he’s hoping the addition will provide its biggest benefits beyond Game 162. "Our thought behind it was very simple," said Williams on MLB.com. "We not only want to get into the [...]