Nelson Cruz and Aging Curves
Nelson Cruz became the most recent member of the 400 home run club when, on September 22nd of last year, he hit his penultimate home run of the season. Reaching 400 home runs is...
Category: Quantitative
Fielding Independent Risers, 2019
Recently I was perusing Aaron Nola’s baseball reference page, as one does, and took stock of his 2019 performance in relation to that of his breakout 2018 campaign. While a doubtlessly strong season, 2019...
Measuring Sticks, Old and New
Well documented is the transcendence of baseball from statistically cognizant to analytically driven. This transformation occurred over the course of decades; it has come about haltingly, nonlinearly, and the result is the hyper-computational landscape...
Free Agency, by Class
Here in late November, MLB’s offseason has hit the ground running. The Braves have been fast movers, jumping to resign Nick Markakis, Darren O’Day, and mid-season acquisition Chris Martin while additionally reaching agreements with...
Midseason Trades, in Retrospect
One of the key cogs in the 2019’s final months for the now-champion Washington Nationals was Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera didn’t have a fantastic postseason, statistically speaking, but he did have some impactful hits and...
Three True Outcomes In 2019: Reliance and Resistance
In what is quickly becoming an annual tradition, MLB recently set yet another record for the number of strikeouts in a season. 2019 is also a year dominated by home runs. Meanwhile walks, or...
Do Farm System Rankings Relate to Minor League Standings?
MiLB’s regular season has recently come to an end. Affiliated ball, and those individuals who play in it, is increasingly scrutinized as teams and fans alike keep an eye on the future of the...
Fantastic Swings and When to Expect Them
The purpose of this post is to briefly examine swing and contact data. Specifically, it will take a look at those players whose swing decisions are most and least impacted by the traditional strike...
Is Fastball Velocity Predictive of Usage?
As its title indicates, this post aims to address whether or not a pitcher’s fastball velocity corresponds to, or is predictive of, how often he turns to that pitch. One would imagine that the...
The Home Run Derby and Second Half Slumping
The Home Run Derby took place very recently. Pete Alonso won. But this post will not really be about this year’s Home Run Derby. Rather, it will be about the wake of the Home...