THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Batter on Deck

A great idea by Jeff, at looking at hitters with a pitcher on deck and not, with dramatic differences.  (Jeff should have noted the IBB, but that’s the least of the impact.) Great stuff, and time to look at multi-year data.

As you know, we looked at “protection” in The Book, and we do see changes in hitting/pitching approach, but the overall production didn’t really change. 

One thing I noticed in The Book is how the #5 hitter hits better than he does in other spots, presumably because the #3 and #4 hitters wore him out.  There’s lots of great studies to be done in terms of the on-deck impact.

Great job Jeff.