January 19, 2019

Strengths and Weaknesses

Bill James liked to point out in his Baseball Abstracts that every strength covered a weakness. Tom Tango does some research that shows a high average exit velocity negatively effects wOBA .


To make the illustration clear: If Stanton hits a ball to the warning track, it’s more likely to be caught than if Billy Hamilton did so. And as baseball fans we can guess easily enough: outfielders play deeper for Stanton. At the same time, this means that balls that fall in over the infielders are more likely to be caught if Hamilton hit it than Stanton. Where the outfielders giveth in one spot, they taketh in another spot. Equilibrium? No!

TangoTiger.com

The balls hit to the warning track are worth more if they fall in. The whole post is well worth your time.

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