Diamond Mine

Stats that matter 2008 click link below:

So as the season goes I've set up the stats on this page to be updated weekly. Here's the Deal... The Hitting and Pitching Pages both have all the normal stats you'd expect. There are additional columns after the traditional statistics that I find particularly interesting and useful. The updated statistics are located on the left hand side of the page in the links section. Click on the link and then click the button that follows to open the file.

CON- is the % of the time the Batter makes contact with the ball. If a batter simply put the ball into play each at bat, we'd expect him to have a .290 Batting Average since the average MLB defense turns 71% of all balls in play into outs.

PWR- is calculated by using Linear Weighted Power Indicators. Using linear weights I add up the Runs generated by the batter using only counting metrics that indicate power. 2b's, HR's, as well as IBB's. Not all power hitters are created equal. THe difference are the true power hitters that are so feared that they do not get a chance to swing the bat as often as the other players. Barry Bonds would have easily hit more home runs than he did in his career had he not been intentionally walked so often. Afterall, it is Barry Bond's power that put the opposition in the position to have to walk him to stay away from his ability to hit for power. It makes sense to give credit to hitters for being intentionally walked since, if they were poor hitters, they wouldn't be piched around. The runs genereated by a hitter's power indicators are then put into a rate which is where we come up with PWR. so the number you see in this column represents the runs the hitters generates by power hitting ability alone per each AB.

EYE- this metric is the Batter's Hits and walks to strike out ratio. Using just walks in comparison to K's is not fair to a batter. Just because a batter gets a hit does not mean that he wasn't selctive in trying to do so. On the contrary, obviously, since the batter was able to reach safely, we must assume that the pitch the batter did swing at was good enough to yield a positive outcome. Combining Hits into the BB/K ratio gives the batter credit for swinging when he was supposed to and comparing it to the times he wasn't supposed to.

SPD- is the same as OPS except there are four different rates that are added together. It is a player SB% The Total times the runner was sent % of Balls in Play that were triples X 10 Runs Scored %. It sounds more complicated that it really is. The number itself doesn't mean much other than the higher the number, the faster the player is.

As for the Pitchers...

Again all the regular numbers, there are all sorts of other cool nuggets.

BFP/G- This is simply the amount of hitters the Pitcher faces per Game.

GS%- This is simply the percentage of games the pitchers started. I use it to differentiate between Starters and relievers.

IPOuts/G- Same as Innings per game but broken down to outs for relievers.

IP/GS- same as above except broken down by inning for Starters.

Pit/BFP- Pitches per batter faced.

EFF- This stands for Pitchers Efficiency. It's actually a pretty simple concept. Pitches per out. Pitcher's who take a while to get someone out and still generate a bunch of innings in one year, tend not to be able to repeat the same performance the next year. Also, so pitchers are just good at generating outs efficiently like Greg Maddux or Mark Mulder (at least the Mark Mulder from 2003).

END- The Endurance Score is under construction.

CTL- Good ol' fashioned K to BB ratio. If, a pitcher is striking out more batters than he's walking, then, he's probably throwing pitches where he wants more often than he's missing his target.

STF- BEST STAT EVER!. No really though, it's a pretty cool idea. Of all the outs that a pitcher is able to make throughout a season, how many of them are strikeouts? Pitchers who rely on their defense to make them look good usually don't have very impressive "stuff". That is to say their pitch arsenal is pretty pedestrian. Pitchers who's outs are scoming from strike outs are doing something right to miss bats. They're nasty.

DOM- Similar to STF, but this number is the raw percentage that a given pitcher struck out any batter they faced. This reveals the pitcher's ability to take over any given at bat. This is a very important skill for relievers since they are sometimes called on to keep the ball out of play entirely.