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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
Which teams have really come on in the second half?
September 07, 2006 For some teams, the difference between their first half and second half performance is dramatic. The hottest teams would want the playoffs to be based only on their second half performance. Here's what that would look like: Playoff Spot Team W L Pct [...]
How deep is starting pitching in baseball?
December 14, 2005 A recent article in the Chicago Tribune suggested that the Chicago Cubs trade their young stud starter, Carlos Zambrano, for superstar shortstop Miguel Tejada. Using Bill James' Win Shares we can look at the depth of starting pitchers in baseball and do a comparison to shortstops. Let's start with shortstops. Here are the top [...]
Are there fewer HR since steroid testing began? (A Reprise)
December 07, 2005 We studied the home run trends over the last four seasons in our June 30th Stat of the Week and found a four-year low. But we wondered if we were seeing the effect of the cold start of the season. Now we know the full season results. Year [...]
Are throws to first to hold the runner a waste of time?
March 16, 2005 Picture this: A fast runner, known for stealing bases, is on first. Rather than pitch to the batter, however, the pitcher keeps throwing over to first to hold the runner. Sometimes this can get pretty monotonous for us fans, especially after the first couple of throws. Is the pitcher getting anything [...]
How do the skills of Japanese hitting stars translate to Major League Baseball?
January 26, 2005 With the White Sox signing Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, the question is: How do the skills of Japanese hitting stars translate to Major League Baseball? Three hitting stars from Japanese baseball have entered the American baseball scene in recent years: Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and Kaz Matsui. Using the statistic OPS [...]
Who leads the NBA in turnovers/minutes played?
January 12, 2005 The Chicago Bulls, and it isn’t even close. Looking deeper to find the culprit(s), you can see why. Ranking all NBA players by the most turnovers per minute with a minimum of 600 minutes played through the games of Jan 10, the Bulls have the top two! Here’s how the whole [...]
How does newly-elected Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg rank against his fellow second basemen in the hall?
January 05, 2005 Ryne Sandberg is the 16th second basemen elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Here is how he ranks in this group in various categories: Home Runs - 2nd (Rogers Hornsby has the most) Total Bases - 7th Hits - 9th Stolen Bases - 6th On-Base Plus Slugging - 10th Runs [...]
Which happens more often in baseball: a foul ball or a called strike?
December 29, 2004 It’s close, foul balls occur 5% more often than called strikes. In 2003 there were 116,337 foul balls and 110,497 called strikes on the batter. Here is the complete list: Called Balls 240,981 Hit Into Play 138.877 Foul Balls 116,337 Called Strikes 110,497 Swinging Strikes 39,411
How effective are fifth starters in a pitching rotation?
December 22, 2004 If you exclude the four best starters on each Major League team in 2004, the average win-loss record of the remaining starters is 14-21 with a 5.67 ERA. Not very good. Even if you look at just the playoff teams, the average is 16-16 with a 5.25 ERA. Bottom line: To be [...]
Is it conditioning or is it steroids?
December 15, 2004 I won't speculate on the answer, but I'll give you the evidence. In the last eighty years, a player has increased his home run totals by 30 from one season to the next 16 times. Dave Johnson holds the record, going from 5 dingers in 1972 to 43 the next season. If it [...]