quote:
Originally posted by Coach Bob:
Thoughts on this?? Going for a similar composite rating to Quality At Bat.
Quality Batter Faced (QBF) =
<=3 pitches + first pitch strike + strike out divided by batters faced * 3 (since each of these things can happen on every batter)
Bob, I’m afraid you’re gonna run into the same problems that QABs encounter. I.e., different people have different perceptions about what constitutes “QUALITY”.
But nonetheless, I like a challenge, so I’ll make an attempt to throw some ideas into the pot.
Rather than try to come up with something new, why not just come up with the opposite of what you believe a QAB to be? I really haven’t got a clue what you believe a QAB qualifies as, but since you listed it 1st, let’s assume it has something to do with the number of pitches. The idea behind # of pitches in a QAB is mostly that no matter what the outcome, if the batter causes the pitcher to throw a lot of pitches, he’s done something to force the pitcher out of the game earlier, or become fatigued sooner.
Thinking that way and not worrying about the result, getting rid of a batter in 3 pitches or less is a good thing. But if 3 pitches is a good thing, wouldn’t that mean 2 would be better, and 1 would be the best? Assuming that’s true, rather than make all 3 of those instances the same, why not give them different weights? FI, if the AB ends in 3 pitches, give it 1 point, 2 pitches 2 points, and of course 1 pitch 3 points?
Look at the 1st page of the link.
http://www.infosports.com/scor...mages/pitcherqba.pdf The link comes from the data from the HS team I score for.
The 2nd page doesn’t bother with the minutia of how the points were generated, but rather just looks at the aggregate number.
1st pitch strikes is something that in this context needs to be thought about just a bit more than whether or not the 1st pitch was a strike. FI, a 1st pitch strike that induces a popup for an out is a very very good thing. But, a 1st pitch strike that sails over the left field fence isn’t such a good thing. So what I’m suggesting is, not counting all 1st pitch strikes as a good thing, but rather looking at them as having different value, the same way a 1,2, or 3 pitch at bat has a different value.
Examples would be, a 1st pitch strike that put the pitcher ahead in the count would be worth 1 point, one that got an out worth 2 points, and one that allowed a runner to reach a minus number. You’d have to decide whether or not an ROE was something the pitcher had any control over. I guess a lot would depend on how well you trusted your scorer. If you think your scorer has a pretty good handle on what’s a hit or an error, only counts hits. If you think your scorer has “issues”, just take the scorer out of the pitcher and count every runner reaching as a bad thing. Just to see what it would look like without points involved for FPS, take a look at the link again.
Well, that should at least be a start that gets the ol’ mind juices flowin’. I can see where I might create a new metric for myself with these basic ideas. My son’s the PC for the JV squad, and he’s gotten to the point where he’s pretty obsessed with his pitchers throwing to contact and throwing strikes. This may well appeal to him.
Anyhoo, let me know what you think.
