Continuing with how different people evaluate the players in the different phases of the game, does anyone do any kind of tracking the running game other than SBAs and SBs?
Because of requests from various people over the years, I’ve generated something I call “Runner Disruptions”. While it does track the standard SBA and SB data, it looks at some other things as well that help those looking judge the player’s value to the team more as a base runner than hitter. See =====>
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Great stats. Wonder how many teams actually take time to do this?
Very interesting....Other things that might factor.
1. Slide step utilized
2. Also, which would take greater time. What is the BA of players when (impact runner is on) vs BA when he is not.
IEBSBL posted:
Very interesting....Other things that might factor.
Let me try to explain why some things are very difficult to track. I’ll use your #1 above.
No one other than me is tracking anything for the teams I score for. When I was scoring with a pencil and paper I made a little mark in the scoring box for every throw to a base where there was a runner, but I didn’t have a way to track fakes. I counted those marks for every runner, entered the data into the stat program, and could then report on it. While that was a lot more than most scorers could do, it was still pretty basic.
When I began scoring electronically, I built a function into the program to make it easier on me. I can either left click on a runner for a throw or right click for a fake, or what’s easier is typing a 1, 2, or 3 for a throw. Along with that, since the program knows who’s playing every position, when a throw is made the pitcher gets credit for the throw and either the F3, F6, or F5 gets credit for a “touch”. If the catcher makes the throw all I do is click on the runner, click on the fielder who made the throw then click on the fielder who caught the throw. It sounds complicated but believe me it’s simple.
What would I have to do to track whether the pitcher used a slide step, partial knee lift, or full knee lift? Of course I could set up something to grab that information, but believe me I already have so many questions to answer or choices to make, it’s not something I’d ever use myself. I’m bizzier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs already, and don’t need to make things even more difficult. However, if the coach wanted to have someone else keep track of that stuff or anything else and give it to me, I’d gladly enter it into the system and report on it.
Your #2 would be pretty simple for me because I know where the runner(s) are at the end of every PA. So all I’d need to do was segregate the PAs where there was an “impact runner” on base, depending on what that was. Even though I think it’s a pretty useless stat, I already do a BAWRISP, so how would what you’re looking for be any different?
Stats4Gnats posted:IEBSBL posted:
Very interesting....Other things that might factor.
- Slide step utilized
- Also, which would take greater time. What is the BA of players when (impact runner is on) vs BA when he is not.
Let me try to explain why some things are very difficult to track. I’ll use your #1 above.
No one other than me is tracking anything for the teams I score for. When I was scoring with a pencil and paper I made a little mark in the scoring box for every throw to a base where there was a runner, but I didn’t have a way to track fakes. I counted those marks for every runner, entered the data into the stat program, and could then report on it. While that was a lot more than most scorers could do, it was still pretty basic.
When I began scoring electronically, I built a function into the program to make it easier on me. I can either left click on a runner for a throw or right click for a fake, or what’s easier is typing a 1, 2, or 3 for a throw. Along with that, since the program knows who’s playing every position, when a throw is made the pitcher gets credit for the throw and either the F3, F6, or F5 gets credit for a “touch”. If the catcher makes the throw all I do is click on the runner, click on the fielder who made the throw then click on the fielder who caught the throw. It sounds complicated but believe me it’s simple.
What would I have to do to track whether the pitcher used a slide step, partial knee lift, or full knee lift? Of course I could set up something to grab that information, but believe me I already have so many questions to answer or choices to make, it’s not something I’d ever use myself. I’m bizzier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs already, and don’t need to make things even more difficult. However, if the coach wanted to have someone else keep track of that stuff or anything else and give it to me, I’d gladly enter it into the system and report on it.
Your #2 would be pretty simple for me because I know where the runner(s) are at the end of every PA. So all I’d need to do was segregate the PAs where there was an “impact runner” on base, depending on what that was. Even though I think it’s a pretty useless stat, I already do a BAWRISP, so how would what you’re looking for be any different?
IMO here is how it is different. If there is a plodder at 2nd base then the MIF do not have to dog his as much and can play further away from the bag. Also the pitcher does not have to give him as much attention. You have a rabbit on the bases then MIF have to do him more, play closer, and the Pitcher has to pay more attention to him. IMO you probably would find that B.A. would increase with those guys on the bags as opposed to a guy with no speed. Just a thought.
Good work! Does a fake include when the pitcher steps off the rubber? Also, if HTF time is accurate, if it were my team the 3.9 kid would play more.
Ripken Fan posted:
Good work! Does a fake include when the pitcher steps off the rubber? Also, if HTF time is accurate, if it were my team the 3.9 kid would play more.
Yes, if he steps off because of the runner.
You’ve touched on something I think is pretty interesting with H21st times. The times you see on that particular report come from actual times taken with a stopwatch at a pre-season practice with the players knowing when they were going to run. I only put the times on that report to give some context. That player with the 3.9 was a Fr at the V practice and only played with the V during a few summer games.
I prefer H21st times taken during games. I have the capacity to get those times but so far I’m the only one interested so I don’t bother.
My guess, is that in most cases, things even out. For instance, if a pitcher throws over a lot, that could disrupt the batter. On the other hand, the pitcher may not be able to find the strike zone after throwing over multiple times.
If runner steals, then the lefty batter has lost the advantage of having the runner held at first. On the other hand, a base hit will now be an rbi. Of course, with 0 outs, batter may have the bat taken out of his hand and be asked to bunt the speedy runner to third.
This year, I saw a very speedy leadoff batter for several games. Kid was a force. If he got on with no outs, you could almost go ahead and put a run on the board. If fact, what I remember most is how often he didn't have to steal. Multiple times I saw pitchers throw over, throw over and throw it away and he would then end up on 3rd base without stealing.
I never intended the disruptions to be anything more than to give some idea of how the runners were affecting the game.
I do the disruptions for both hitters and pitchers. I don’t get as elaborate with the pitchers, but the essence of the report is the same. See attached.
