Cool SABR stuff
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Blogger Dan Turkenkopf made a post the other day about a study he did on block rates for catchers. He only looks at 2007, but I thought it was interested for 2 reasons:
1. It helps confirm my suspicion that Mike Redmond is a VERY valuable player. His block rate in '07 was 2% higher then the next best catcher. Obviously there are sample size issues with only looking at 1 year (especially when Redmond only played 400 innings) but its still another good sign that he is very good at his job.
2. Mauer ranked very near the bottom. Mauer has always been known as a good defensive catcher and there is a lot of data out there to support that, but it seems intuitive to me that he wouldn't rate well in blocking balls. From watching games it seems like he occasionally misses a ball he shouldn't. I also wonder if his height and injuries don't make it more difficult for him to block balls.
Its important to note that blocking balls in the dirt isn't the only part of being a catcher and I'm not (nor is this study) implying that he isn't a good defensive C. I still think he is.
Another interesting post I came across today was this post on Lookout Landing (another Mariners blog). He is basically introducing a new fielding independent evaluation for pitchers and I really like the way it is calculated.
Beyond that, I thought it was... interesting that a certain Twins '08 supposed opening day starter ranked worse then every other MLB pitcher in runs prevented over average last year based on this stat... and significantly so. Livan ended the season at 34 runs below average. The next worst in the entire league was 28. His tRA rate (Runs Allowed/9ip) last season was over a full run higher then Ramon Ortiz's and even slightly higher then Sidney Ponson's! And as usual I to point out that he was pitching in an easier league! Ugh.
Anyway, tRA is the new xFIP!
Awesome new song:
Posted bySL__72 at 1:51 PM
Labels: Joe Mauer, Livan Hernandez, Los Campesinos, Mike Redmond, ROA, sabrmetrics, tRA