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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
How can the injuries to the Cubs' starters be a good thing?
June 02, 2005 Because now they are forced to use Glendon Rusch as a starter! Over the last two years 142 pitchers have started at least 20 games in the majors. Rusch ranks 8th in ERA (3.23) among those pitchers, considering only their statistics as a starter. His record is 6-3, but more importantly the team [...]
What's the 30-60-90 rule of saves?
May 19, 2005 The manager brings in a relief pitcher up by three runs in the ninth. The pitcher finishes the game and gets the save. It's done all the time, but in fact, it's not a good time to use what normally is the best pitcher on your team. This situation falls under the [...]
What is Ryan Theriot’s “little secret”?
April 20, 2007 And who is Ryan Theriot anyway? Not much of a household name, he was a 26-year-old rookie for the Cubs last year who outperformed Albert Pujols, Carlos Beltran, Travis Hafner, David Ortiz, and Ryan Howard in 2006 in one area that will surprise you. It’s not a statistic that is often used, but [...]
Worn out his welcome?
January 11, 2008 Despite an on-base percentage a bit lower than you'd like at the top of the order (.338 career on-base percentage), Scott Podsednik has proven quite effective as a leadoff man. Until last year. Every year prior to 2007 Pods' teams have scored significantly more runs when he led off an inning than when [...]
It's the Name Game!
October 24, 2007 Click here to listen to John Dewan on WSCR Chicago It’s the Name Game—sing it with me—you know, that old sixties song: "Nick! Nick, Nick, bo Bick, Bonana fanna fo Fick, fee fy mo Mick...Nick!" OK, I'm dating myself. This is silly, but it's fun. What I want you to do [...]
How often does a team miss a sure-fire double play?
May 26, 2006 How often does a team miss a sure-fire double Ever watch your favorite team miss a double play when it was easy? The rules of baseball scoring prohibit the official scorer from giving anyone [...]
Can the Dodgers score runs even though they play in one of baseball's worst hitters parks?
May 18, 2006 Here's where the Los Angeles Dodgers rank in the National League in various hitting categories as a team right now: Batting Average 10th (.262) Home Runs 10th (39) Slugging Percentage 11th (.415) These rankings are not surprising, given that the Dodgers play in the second worst hitter's park [...]
Are the same pitchers who win the Gold Glove year after year deserving?
May 12, 2006 Greg Maddux has won the Gold Glove for the best fielding pitcher in the National League in 15 of the last 16 years. In the American League, Kenny Rogers has won the last two Gold Gloves. In the last ten years, Rogers has won the AL award four times while Mike Mussina has taken home [...]
True or False: No team last in the league in walks has ever won a World Championship.
May 04, 2006 A new book by Doug Decatur titled Behind-the-Scenes Baseball, published by my company, ACTA Sports, has many interesting insights into the numbers of the game. Doug has worked as a statistical consultant for several major league teams. This is an example taken from the GM IQ Test in the book. The answer to the title question is true. Going [...]
Who are the best young players for 2007?
March 07, 2007 A few months ago we shared the projected batting and pitching leaders from The Bill James Handbook 2007 (Who are the projected batting and pitching leaders for 2007?) This time of year, people want to know who the high impact young guys are. Each year we update our projections from the Handbook [...]