Doctoring The Numbers: Improvement Ratio
3/06In the last installment of DTN, we examined the topic of whether left-handed pitchers take longer to have a breakout season than right-handers do. In the process, we had to define exactly what a "breakout" season is. I used a series of qualifiers to define the term, and it worked pretty well. But there is...
Doctoring The Numbers: Do Lefties “Break Out” More Than Righties?
2/21Welcome to the first "Doctoring the Numbers" of the year. Traditionally, DTN is a an in-season column, but I’m setting that aside this week. I write these columns as a gut reaction to something I’ve recently encountered–an interesting statistic, an compelling quote, or a thought-provoking assertion. Two weeks ago, Rob Neyer made a statement that,...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Riding the Horses
10/30The Arizona Diamondbacks are keeping it simple. Their philosophy of winning is not at all complicated. It isn’t predicated on some strange brand of aggressive baserunning, or a managerial zeal for sound fundamentals, or the ticking-time-bomb brand of big-inning baseball practiced by the Oakland A’s. No, the Diamondbacks’ theory on winning is this: hand the...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Learning the Game
10/24I’ll never forget where I was ten years ago this Monday. It was not the kind of earth-shattering, life-changing moment that would forever alter the world in which we live, like the moment I heard about the Challenger disaster, or watching the horrors unfold six weeks ago. But like the first time I saw my...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: More on Barry Bonds
10/09[Ed. note. Clay Davenport isn’t a doctor, nor does he play one on TV. He does, however, have some interesting observations on the greatness of Barry Bonds’s 2001 season. Rany Jazayerli yields the floor to him this week.] I’m having trouble deciding which of Barry Bonds‘s new records is the most astounding. I’m pretty sure...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: The Bonds Edition
9/18We are a jaded society. The entertainment industry drowns us in hyperbole and excess, to the point where magazines devote their cover story to the outfits worn by celebrities to an award show. The sports industry is nearly as guilty, or haven’t you noticed that college players are being touted for the Heisman trophy in...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Pitch Counts in 2001
8/01Many of you are aware of a column that I write in conjunction with ESPN.com columnist Rob Neyer. While "Rob & Rany on the Royals" is, at its heart, a discussion of the affairs of that fallen franchise, our comments frequently touch upon all major-league teams. I recently made the following point about the Royals’...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: More Homers than Walks
7/26For this week’s column, I can either excoriate Allard Baird in print for the hundredth time, or I can open the ol’ mailbag. And since my lawyer friends insist that "battery" covers written as well as verbal threats, I’ll let reader Greg Godowsky defuse a touchy situation with his question: I don’t know if this...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: The Burroughs Hypothesis
7/18Sean Burroughs is not content with being one of the best hitting prospects in all of baseball. He also wants to make his mark in the field of sabermetrics. In an interview with David Schoenfield, ESPN.com editor and one of the most underrated members of the sabermetric revolution, Burroughs gave a novel answer as to...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: The Hitters League?
7/13Is the American League still the hitters’ league? It may seem that the Junior Circuit has always been the league of inflated offense, as a result of–take your pick–weaker pitching, cozier ballparks, weaker pitching, smaller strike zones, and weaker pitching. That’s not the case. Prior to the installation of the DH in 1973, the two...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Great Young Rotations
7/04The Florida Marlins are trying to do the unthinkable. They’re doing their best to prove that yes, you can have too much pitching. Or, at the very least, too much young pitching. Dave Dombrowski, who has a nose for young pitching unlike any other GM today, has assembled a collection of young aces-in-training that is...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: The Windy City
6/20I think we all owe Oscar Acosta an apology. You might recall that back in spring training, Acosta created a huge stir in the Cubs’ spring training camp by questioning the manhood of some of the Cubs’ young pitchers, particularly Will Ohman and Carlos Zambrano. At the time, we all thought Acosta was nuts. It...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Alex Gonzalez
5/23Before getting into this week’s column, I would like to make a pair of comments regarding last week’s feature on the amazing Ichiro Suzuki: I stated that, assuming Ichiro could continue to get hits in 95% of his games, that his chances of fashioning a 57-game hitting streak were extremely high. I did not mean...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Ballardesque Strikeout Ratios
5/16When trying to come up with inspiration for the first Doctoring the Numbers segment of the new season, there is no better place to be than at the ballpark. I discovered this when I took in a matinee at Comerica Park last Thursday on a muggy Detroit afternoon. The Tigers had just deflated their crowd...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Byung-Hyun Kim
6/07Byung-Hyun Kim arrived on American soil last spring and brought a new pitch, the submarine slider, with him. This year, he’s proving that his cup of coffee last season–just 20 hits allowed in 28 innings while striking out 31–was no fluke. Though he lost the Diamondbacks’ game on Sunday, allowing his first home run of...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightDoctoring The Numbers: Of Hits and Misses
5/31Of Hits and Misses Bobby Bonds set the all-time single-season record for strikeouts with 189 in 1970, and his mark has weathered repeated challenges since. Mike Schmidt, Pete Incaviglia, Rob Deer and Cecil Fielder all struck out at least 180 times in a season. Bonds’s record has survived despite rampant whiff inflation throughout baseball in...
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