Aim For The Head: Reaching on Errors
8/02This week’s question comes from T.W., who asks: Does anyone track errors against for a hitter? It would seem to me that this might be a consistent skill (due to speed, an ability to consistently hit hard ground balls, and continued hustle). If it is a consistent skill shouldn’t this be tracked and shouldn’t certain...
Aim For The Head: Feedback
7/27Last week’s column about pitch counts, game lengths and run scoring got quite a lot of response, most of it taking me to task for not answering the question properly. Though MLB has backed down after the directive to “hunt for strikes” caused an uproar, it still remains an interesting topic for analysis. Here’s a...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Pitches and Game Length
7/19This week’s question comes from Nate Calvin, who also happens to be an old college buddy of mine: Sandy Alderson is in hot water for trying to get the umps to drop game pitch counts from 285 to 270 by calling more strikes. I believe pitchers average a little over five pitches per out, so...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Walk Rate Spikes
7/12Evidently, not everyone finds articles on attendance all that compelling. In fact, one response called my June 26 column "the most boring thing I’ve EVER managed to read in its entirety." Hopefully this week’s question, from Mikael Haxby, won’t put too many of my readers to sleep…or at least put different ones to sleep than...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Fan Satisfaction
6/26Satisfaction is an interesting concept.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Response Rates
6/20This week’s question comes from. uh. well, BP’s Joe Sheehan, who wrote in last Monday’s Daily Prospectus: There's also something that reader Jim Cox mentioned to me that I have to say is very impressive to observe, if an unknown (or even a tautology) from an analytical standpoint. The Mariners score in a ridiculous percentage...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Temperature and OPS, Redux
6/12Baseball Prospectus Home
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Temperature and OPS
6/07This week’s question comes from Joel Wirth: Plenty is made about players pre- and post-All-Star Break numbers, but what I'm interested in our "cool" and "hot" weather splits. Who does significantly better/worse in June, July, and August compared to April, May, and September/October? Thanks. Thanks for the question, Joel. We often hear about players who...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Barry Bonds and the Three True Outcomes
5/23This week’s question was sent in by Andrea Trento: We all saw Barry Bonds's ridiculous weekend, but lost in his home-run barrage has been the fact that he has seven singles so far this year. That's 22 home runs, 10 doubles, and seven singles. His isolated slugging is .593, thanks to an .898 slugging percentage...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Expected vs. Actual Wins
5/16This week’s question comes from Chuck Hildebrandt, who writes: Being a lifelong Detroit Tiger fan, I was studying the 1984 season in Total Baseball when I was startled by something I saw in the National League. I noticed that the New York Mets, managed by Davey Johnson, were outscored by their competition, 652-676, yet finished...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightAim For The Head: Good-hitting Pitchers
5/09(Ed. note: Today marks the debut of Keith Woolner as a featured columnist here at Baseball Prospectus. Each Wednesday, he’ll be answering a statistical or sabermetric question from one of our readers. Click here to submit a question to Keith.) This week’s question comes to us from Thomas Berman, who asks: Mike Hampton hit his...
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