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Measuring the Quality of a Pitch
QOP and QOPA can help reframe the discussion about pitch quality. At the 2016 SABR Analytics Conference we sat down with analysts from 15 different major league teams and provided a customized report...
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Demographic Ball
Might a young player like Aaron Judge one day find himself in the record books? (via Arturo Pardavila III) Do you remember record chases? Will Alex Rodriguez pass Hank Aaron? Or will it be Ken Griffey...
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Jim Bunning’s Brethren: Baseball Men Who Went Into Politics
Magglio Ordonez was a much better baseball player than he is a politician. (via Cbl62) An old baseball player is a young man. Even the lengthiest careers leave a man with half his life still ahead of...
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Midseason 2017 Strike Zone Review
The strike zone is, so far, slightly smaller than it was last season. (via Grant Dawson) For the past decade, Major League Baseball pitch data have been collected and made publicly available. During...
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Clayton and the Home Run Players
Clayton Kershaw has a bit of a home run problem this season. (via Michelle Jay) Clayton Kershaw is not normal. I’ve said it before. I wasn’t the first. I won’t be the last. How many more epic poems...
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Bringing the Fan Scouting Report to the Ballpark
Ender Inciarte’s defensive prowess hasn’t gone unnoticed by baseball fans. (via Arturo Pardavila III) In a box in my bedroom, stashed away somewhere under my bed, is a stack of old scorecards. The...
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Vote for the 2018 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards!
The Society of American Baseball Research has announced the finalists for the 2018 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards. We’re excited that work from The Hardball Times was once again included in...
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Searching for the Formula for Team Chemistry
There may not be a more important relationship for chemistry than the one between a pitcher and his catcher. (via Cathy Taylor) Though we have yet to quantify the intangible quality players refer to...
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How Long is the Average Playoff Window?
The Dodgers’ current playoff window started with prime-Clayton Kershaw and has been sustained because of money. (via Arturo Pardavila III) The concept of the playoff window is ubiquitous. We all know...
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Vote for the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards!
Here’s your chance to vote for the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference Research Award winners. The SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best...
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Rethinking the Strike Zone: It’s Not a Square
Calling a clean strike zone isn’t easy, but what if we’ve had the shape wrong all along? (via Andrew Malone) The strike zone isn’t a square. And it’s not a rectangle either. It’s a superellipse. Back...
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Rethinking the Strike Zone: It’s Not a Grid
Let’s reimagine the strike zone, but not as a grid. For many years, you’ve been led to believe that the strike zone should be divided into boxes, little boxes made of ticky-tacky arbitrary zones,...
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The Increasing Importance of Pitcher Height
The 6-foot-5 Justin Verlander led qualified MLB starting pitchers in strikeout percentage in 2018. (via D. Benjamin Miller) Mookie Betts, Jose Ramirez and Alex Bregman were three of the top five...
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Baseball Coding with Rust – Part 3
This new(ish) programming language is an alternative to other programming languages. (via Public Domain) Welcome back to our Baseball Coding with Rust series. The source code for this series is now...
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Racism: The Original Performance Enhancer
The Major Leagues of Foxx, Ruth, Gehrig, and Simmons were limited by racial segregation. (via Wikimedia Commons) One thing that continues to bother me about the historic analysis of baseball is the...
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Bases Loaded, Nobody Out — What Happens Next?
The Giants, somewhat surprisingly, had the biggest positive difference in bases-loaded, no-out situations in 2019. (via Ian D’Andrea) It starts with a walk, a single, or sometimes a defensive miscue....
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Vote Now for the 2020 SABR Analytics Awards!
Here’s your chance to vote for the 2020 SABR Analytics Conference Research Award winners. The SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best...
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