SABRmetrics

[Brahmsian]

I'm not a member of SABR but do am interested in questions concerning the relevance of stats in baseball
and other sports.

In baseball, I think strikeouts by a pitcher are an over-rated stat. Something like (Ks - Ws)/9 innings
would be much more relevant than Ks alone. Because walks render the homers a pitcher allows
(and all pitchers do allow some) damaging multi-run jobs rather than the tolerable solo shots.

What stats do others think are over-rated and how could they be improved?

 

[DragonfromTO]

I'm not a member of SABR but do am interested in questions concerning the relevance of stats in baseball
and other sports.

In baseball, I think strikeouts by a pitcher are an over-rated stat. Something like (Ks - Ws)/9 innings
would be much more relevant than Ks alone. Because walks render the homers a pitcher allows
(and all pitchers do allow some) damaging multi-run jobs rather than the tolerable solo shots.

What stats do others think are over-rated and how could they be improved?

K/BB ratio is listed pretty much everywhere you find baseball stats these days.

 

[Lord Scalious]

I'm not a member of SABR but do am interested in questions concerning the relevance of stats in baseball
and other sports.

In baseball, I think strikeouts by a pitcher are an over-rated stat. Something like (Ks - Ws)/9 innings
would be much more relevant than Ks alone. Because walks render the homers a pitcher allows
(and all pitchers do allow some) damaging multi-run jobs rather than the tolerable solo shots.

What stats do others think are over-rated and how could they be improved?

BB-9 K-9 /K/BB Are all overrated IMO

K% And BB% are the best Metrics for those to evaluate pitchers

Aka. The Percentage a Batter Ks or Walks..

 

[Brahmsian]

DraonfromTO, it's not shown on a per-nine-innings basis any site that I'm familiar with.

Another thing that bugs me. Announcers will talk about Ks frequently but much less about walks. Even less often about the connection between walks and multi-run homers.

 

[TDs3nOut]

I'm not a member of SABR but do am interested in questions concerning the relevance of stats in baseball
and other sports.

In baseball, I think strikeouts by a pitcher are an over-rated stat. Something like (Ks - Ws)/9 innings
would be much more relevant than Ks alone. Because walks render the homers a pitcher allows
(and all pitchers do allow some) damaging multi-run jobs rather than the tolerable solo shots.

What stats do others think are over-rated and how could they be improved?

I don't necessarily think that K's is "overrated", but like pretty much any single stat, it tells only a small part of how effective a pitcher is. The ability to strike hitters out is certainly a valuable weapon, but lots of good pitchers don't strike out a lot of guys.

Your point about using information from how many bases on balls (BB) a guy gives up makes sense when evaluating his ability to get strikeouts, but as the first reply to your question points out, K/BB is widely reported.

 

[The Cubs fan]

AVG. is a dumb stat, just put OBP everywhere.

 

[DragonfromTO]

AVG. is a dumb stat, just put OBP everywhere.

I've often thought that OBP would be better received if it were rebranded as measuring how frequently a player makes an out at bat rather than how frequently he reaches base.

 

[TDs3nOut]

AVG. is a dumb stat, just put OBP everywhere.

Knowing both AVG and OBP allows one to look at the difference between the two, which is the relative frequency a guy gets on without getting a hit.

Also, OBP by itself seems less informative to me than OPS, since the latter also provides a measure of a guy's propensity to get extra base hits.

 

[skilledwolf]

The stat I want to see the most is something measuring batted ball speed. It would show how well the hitter makes contact with the ball. Think about it: there are 3 things a hitter can control at the plate:

1) Swinging at strikes and not balls
2) Making contact
3) Hitting the ball hard.

We already measure the first directly with O-Swing% and other stats, and the second with Swinging Strike %, and we have the technology to measure the third (I've seen on broadcasts graphics displaying the speed of the ball off the bat), but we don't. Tracking this would possibly give us a stat that correlates with BABIP and stay consistent through multiple seasons for individual players.

 

[Brahmsian]

I've often thought that OBP would be better received if it were rebranded as measuring how frequently a player makes an out at bat rather than how frequently he reaches base.

Batting average is essentially of the long-past dead-ball era.

I would be much more interested in a pitcher's OPS against than his BA against.

OPS is not a relic, it's an improvement on a relic.

 

[Brahmsian]

The stat I want to see the most is something measuring batted ball speed. It would show how well the hitter makes contact with the ball. Think about it: there are 3 things a hitter can control at the plate:

1) Swinging at strikes and not balls
2) Making contact
3) Hitting the ball hard.

We already measure the first directly with O-Swing% and other stats, and the second with Swinging Strike %, and we have the technology to measure the third (I've seen on broadcasts graphics displaying the speed of the ball off the bat), but we don't. Tracking this would possibly give us a stat that correlates with BABIP and stay consistent through multiple seasons for individual players.

One problem with that is that it says nothing about how often a ball is hit hard but directly at a
smartly placed fielder. Dead pull hitters would, IMO, look better on it than batters smart enough to go the other way against a shift.

 

[skilledwolf]

One problem with that is that it says nothing about how often a ball is hit hard but directly at a
smartly placed fielder. Dead pull hitters would, IMO, look better on it than batters smart enough to go the other way against a shift.

I'm hoping that hard-hit balls at fielders and weak balls that find holes would even out. A dead pull hitter wouldn't be able to hit the ball as hard if it's outside. Really, I just want to see the data to see how it correlates with BABIP.

 

[Lord Scalious]

There are Hard Hit ball stats out there. They divy out a percentage of a hitters Hard/Medium/Soft balls hit

 

[skilledwolf]

There are Hard Hit ball stats out there. They divy out a percentage of a hitters Hard/Medium/Soft balls hit

Where can I find them? I'd appreciate it.