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Mike Fast |
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March 15, 2013 6:55 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Do Spring Speeds Matter? |
Can velocity changes in March and April reveal whether the radar gun will be a pitcher's friend or foe throughout the season?
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
Are velocity readings trustworthy this early in the year, or should we wait until Opening Day to start putting any stock in the speed of a pitcher's stuff? Mike examined the issue in the piece reprinted below, which originally published as a "Spinning Yarn" column on March 30, 2011.
January 25, 2012 3:00 am
Spinning Yarn: Last Pitch |
One of our finest analytical minds says farewell and rides off into the sabermetric sunset to join an MLB team, introducing our newest addition in the process.
I have greatly enjoyed the last 15 months here at Baseball Prospectus. It has been a better time than I could have imagined, in many ways. It has been a privilege to share my thoughts and the results of my research. The conversations that resulted, whether in the comments here or on Twitter or at other sites, are among the things I value most. Baseball is a great game, full of interesting nooks and crannies, and it has been a lot of fun to explore them with you.
December 21, 2011 9:00 am
Spinning Yarn: Hit-and-Run Success is No Accident |
The hit-and-run is much maligned as a small-ball tactic, but it's a surprisingly successful strategy.
“In this game you never know enough.”—Dale Mitchell
November 22, 2011 9:00 am
Spinning Yarn: How Does Quality of Contact Relate to BABIP? |
Mike continues his investigation of HITf/x data to glean more insights into whether pitchers can prevent hits on balls in play.
In the first part of this study, I used detailed batted ball speed information from HITf/x to examine the degree of skill that batters and pitchers had in quality of contact made or allowed. Here, I will look deeper into the question of why some batted balls fall for hits and others do not.
November 16, 2011 9:00 am
Spinning Yarn: Who Controls How Hard the Ball is Hit? |
When a batter and pitch face off, which has a greater effect on how hard the ball is hit, and what can that tell us about pitcher BABIP?
The last decade has seen much discussion and evolution in sabermetric thought around the relative abilities of batters, pitchers, fielders, and Lady Luck to control the outcome of batted balls. Data collected by Sportvision and MLBAM sheds new light on this question, but before we tackle that data, let’s review some of the history of how we came to our current state of knowledge.
October 28, 2011 5:34 pm
BP Unfiltered: Lowe's Changeup to Freese |
A short investigation of Lowe's changeup thrown to Freese to end Game 6 in the 11th inning
There were a number of questionable decisions and failures of execution during Game 6 of the World Series last night, many of which have been well-covered by Jay Jaffe and others. One of them, however, particularly grabbed my interest. Why did Mark Lowe choose to throw a 3-2 changeup to David Freese in the 11th inning? Freese drove the ball over the center-field wall to end the game. (If he had not done that, I doubt I would have taken any notice of the pitch selection.)
October 26, 2011 9:00 am
Spinning Yarn: Can We Predict Hot and Cold Zones for Hitters? |
When is hot truly hot, and when is it not?
A few weeks ago, during the division series, Brandon McCarthy remarked on Twitter that it would be more interesting for TBS to show a diagram of the batter hot and cold zones for every batter than to show the PitchTrax strike zone and pitch location graphic. He argued that knowledge of the hot and cold zones would give viewers additional insight into the battle between the pitcher and the batter.
October 18, 2011 12:19 pm
BP Unfiltered: New Pitch Blocking Research |
Link to article on catcher pitch blocking by Bojan Koprivica
This morning the Hardball Times published a fabulous piece of research by Bojan Koprivica on catchers blocking pitches.
October 8, 2011 11:51 pm
BP Unfiltered: NLCS Umpire Charts and Data |
2010-2011 umpire data and ball/strike charts for the umpire crew for the 2011 NL Championship Series
I worked up some umpire data for Mike Ferrin and the MLB Network Radio show for the National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals, and I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the data.
September 24, 2011 9:00 am
Spinning Yarn: Removing the Mask Encore Presentation |
In case you missed Mike Fast's extraordinary research into quantifying the heretofore hidden contributions of catchers, we're moving it back to the top of the list for the weekend.
I Was Framed
Catchers play a central role in the game of baseball through their involvement with every pitch that their pitchers throw. One of their key tasks is receiving borderline pitches without discouraging the umpire from calling strikes.
September 7, 2011 9:00 am
Spinning Yarn: Home Plate Umpire Positioning |
Does the way an umpire positions himself behind home plate affect the boundaries of his strike zone?
We have known for several years that right-handed and left-handed batters do not see the same strike zone in the major leagues. The strike zone for left-handed batters shifts about two inches toward the outside. This observation goes back at least to Dr. John Walsh’s analysis of PITCHf/x strike zone data in 2007.
August 27, 2011 1:04 pm
BP Unfiltered: Live Blog PITCHf/x Summit 2011 |
A live blog from the Sportvision 2011 PITCHf/x Summit, held in San Francisco
Mike Fast here. The summit has started. The webcast is available here for those who want to follow along online like I am.
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Spinning Yarn: Counsell for the Defense
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