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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
Which All-Stars earned the trip to New York?
July 10, 2008 There's an old saying in Chicago: Vote early, vote often. Well, that certainly seemed to be the case for Cubs fans this season, as seven representatives of the Cubs were selected to play in the All-Star Game. You get the feeling there may have been some ballot-stuffing going on...Which of course is within [...]
Is it harder to steal on lefties?
June 27, 2008 If you ask my son Jason, it's not just harder, it's impossible. I coached my son in little league throughout his grammar school years, eight years in all. I wouldn't trade a minute of it. Here's my favorite story: Jason was about 11 years old. He was never a power hitter, [...]
What's better than ERA to measure a pitcher’s effectiveness?
June 05, 2008 For hitters, for years and years, it was batting average that was thought to be the best single statistic to look at to evaluate a hitter. In the last couple of decades, the weaknesses of batting average have been exposed and the value of getting on base and hitting for power have become [...]
Do left-handers hit low pitches better than righties?
May 29, 2008 Do left-handers hit low pitches better than righties You hear it all the time on the radio, lefties like the low pitch. In fact, I heard the corollary just today on the radio. The announcer said, “As a [...]
What does the current MLB HR rate tell us?
May 23, 2008 Some folks have noticed that the home run rate is down for the second year in a row. Does that tell us that Major League Baseball’s efforts to stop the use of performance enhancement drugs (PEDs) is having an effect? Let’s look at the recent trend using home runs in the last [...]
Who are the leaders in BS wins?
May 02, 2008 Last week Cubs closer Kerry Wood came on in the bottom of the ninth inning to close out the game with the Cubs leading the Rockies 6-5. He gave up the tying run. But the Cubs scored in the top of the tenth. Carlos Marmol pitched the bottom of the tenth and the [...]
Who is seeing the most pitches per plate appearance?
April 24, 2008 More and more people are beginning to appreciate the value of a hitter seeing pitches. It wears out the opposing pitcher and it gives the hitter a chance to walk or find a pitch he can handle. However, the data is not widely available. Below we show the 2007 and 2008 leaderboards for [...]
Which parks are the easiest in which to hit home runs?
September 15, 2004 A statistic called the park factor compares home runs hit at a team’s home field compared to their road games for both the home team and the visiting team. Based on data from the 2002-2003 seasons, the easiest park was Montreal’s second home park, Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico. The park factor [...]
Is quality start really a quality stat?
October 06, 2004 A starting pitcher is credited with a quality start when he pitches at least six innings and allows three or fewer earned runs. Some opponents of the stat argue that pitching six innings and allowing three runs produces a 4.50 ERA, hardly quality. However, an ERA of 4.50 comes in below the overall [...]
What Is A-Rod's Favorite Toy?
February 12, 2009 No, I’m not going to talk about that! (much) Bill James created a method (for details see "Career Targets" in The Bill James Handbook 2009) called "The Favorite Toy" to estimate the probability that a player will achieve a specific career goal like career hits or home runs. The basic components [...]