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Not Your Typical Pitching Stats

Andrew Bailey is pumped-up by his rv100.

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Andrew Bailey is pumped-up by his rv100.

You know I'm mildy obsessed with PITCHf/x.  I often present this metric or that metric, this pitcher, that pitch.  Today I'm going with some of those familiar metrics, but by pitcher (not pitch) and using them to build some "2009 Leaderboards".  The stats are below the fold, here's what you'll get.

Regular season 2009 in two groups (450+ pitches, 200-499 pitches), whiff rate, IWZ (rate of pitches in a zone defined by a two-foot plate and the hitter's top/bottoms averaged over all their PITCHf/x plate appearances), Chase (swing rate out of the wide zone), nkSLG (total bases divided by balls in play, includes home runs), A:B (ratio of 0-1 to 1-0 counts), and the now popular rv100 (run value per 100 pitches, lower is better for pitchers).

Star-divide

450+ 200 to 449
Whiff Whiff
Rich Harden 0.306 Francisco Rodriguez 0.367
Jonathan Sanchez 0.288 Kiko Calero 0.365
Johan Santana 0.284 Brad Lidge 0.349
Ryan Dempster 0.279 Michael Wuertz 0.337
John Danks 0.277 Jonathan Broxton 0.336
Zack Greinke 0.266 Matt Thornton 0.324
Justin Verlander 0.264 Joel Hanrahan 0.322
Javier Vazquez 0.257 Scott Downs 0.321
Dan Haren 0.252 Mark DiFelice 0.321
Jon Lester 0.252 Andrew Bailey 0.309
IWZ IWZ
Roy Halladay 0.599 Ramon Troncoso 0.619
Josh Johnson 0.599 Justin Masterson 0.604
Randy Wolf 0.594 Sean Gallagher 0.596
Kevin Slowey 0.593 Jesse Carlson 0.596
Zach Duke 0.593 Mark DiFelice 0.593
Ted Lilly 0.591 Jason Motte 0.589
Felix Hernandez 0.587 Scott Baker 0.587
Dana Eveland 0.585 Edward Mujica 0.584
Jarrod Washburn 0.584 Dustin Moseley 0.583
Cliff Lee 0.576 Buddy Carlyle 0.580
Chase Chase
Johan Santana 0.346 Russ Springer 0.433
Shairon Martis 0.342 Luke Gregerson 0.430
Ryan Dempster 0.341 Scott Downs 0.411
Koji Uehara 0.333 Matt Guerrier 0.398
Justin Verlander 0.333 Juan Gutierrez 0.380
Kevin Slowey 0.321 Mark DiFelice 0.374
Felix Hernandez 0.320 Angel Guzman 0.365
Edwin Jackson 0.319 Rafael Betancourt 0.364
Aaron Harang 0.314 Michael Wuertz 0.354
Jon Lester 0.311 Jonathan Broxton 0.350
nkSLG nkSLG
Tim Wakefield 0.314 Jonathan Broxton 0.174
Wandy Rodriguez 0.342 Andrew Bailey 0.182
Josh Johnson 0.349 Matt Palmer 0.263
Zack Greinke 0.364 Ramon Ramirez 0.279
Dan Haren 0.370 Ramon Troncoso 0.286
Johnny Cueto 0.370 Jesse Carlson 0.289
Jair Jurrjens 0.377 Danys Baez 0.306
Mark Buehrle 0.385 Brian Bannister 0.307
John Maine 0.385 Kiko Calero 0.314
Joe Saunders 0.386 Juan Cruz 0.314
A:B A:B
Dan Haren 2.000 Mark DiFelice 2.733
Javier Vazquez 1.932 Huston Street 2.467
Koji Uehara 1.849 Matt Thornton 2.462
Johan Santana 1.808 Jeff Weaver 1.941
Roy Halladay 1.779 Jordan Zimmermann 1.936
Kevin Slowey 1.674 Yusmeiro Petit 1.886
Randy Wolf 1.655 Ramon Troncoso 1.826
Adam Eaton 1.653 Rafael Betancourt 1.792
Max Scherzer 1.612 Kevin Gregg 1.783
A.J. Burnett 1.593 Jon Rauch 1.762
rv100 rv100
Johan Santana -3.1 Andrew Bailey -4.7
Dan Haren -3.1 Jonathan Broxton -4.5
Jered Weaver
-2.9 Danys Baez -4.4
Zack Greinke
-2.8 Ryan Franklin -4.0
Ted Lilly
-2.6 Michael Wuertz
-3.5
Josh Johnson
-2.6 Matt Guerrier
-3.5
Kevin Millwood -2.5 Scott Downs -3.5
Yovani Gallardo
-2.5 Clay Condrey
-3.3
Dave Bush -2.4 Mark DiFelice
-3.2
Jarrod Washburn
-2.3 Ramon Ramirez
-3.1

3 recs  |  Comment 30 comments |

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Doesn't this mean that...

If Andrew Bailey threw 100 pitches in a game that the other team would score -3.7 runs?

by NoNameOnCard on May 13, 2009 3:29 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

-3.7 runs comapared to average.

Where average is what, 4.8 runs per game or something like that?

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on May 13, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

and I think there's a bug ....

in my code, now that I look at it…. uno momento, easy to fix…

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

OK

fixed, the calc seems a little off still. I was over counting hits, which skewed the data but didn’t break too many of the rank orders. I’ll correct the table above, although the average value is coming out slightly less than 0 for 2009.

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

This is great.

I like giving some time to these pitch f/x stats and the context helps me wrap my head around them. More, more!

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on May 13, 2009 3:35 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

trailers

450+ pitches

Whiff
Mike Pelfrey .064

IWZ
Derek Lowe: .429

Chase
Daniel Cabrera .176

nkSLG
Randy Johnson .725

A:B
Shane Loux .649

rv100
Scott Olsen 13.6

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

200-449

Whiff
Kris Benson .065

IWZ
Todd Coffey .431

Chase
Andrew Miller .128

nkSLG
Brad Lidge .895

A:B
Andrew Miller .514

rv100
Jon Rauch 14.6

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Is my thinking correct that

nkSLG would more likely be lower for a “pitch-to-contact” pitcher? The leaderboard has pitchers who throw up the junk and let the batters make weak contact whereas the two trailers are considered pretty good strikeout pitchers.

Are there year-to-year consistencies and regression for nkSLG similar to BABIP?

by JBrew on May 13, 2009 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

corrected rv100 trailer

logan kensing 2.4 (Rauch lands at .95, 8th worst)

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

corrected rv100 trailer

Dana Eveland 1.1, Olsen is 4th at .59

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Mike Pelfrey

i know he wasn’t getting swings and misses. when he faced the phillies i don’t think he recorded one swing and miss. but .064 has to be some kind of record, right?

by jamiethekiller on May 14, 2009 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

It's bad

I think Livan checks in at about the same, IIRC

by Harry Pavlidis on May 14, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Kevin Millwood.

He’s 6th on the 450+ list for rv100, but he’s got a high FIP and a high tERA. My brain is caving in. Can someone explain this to me so I don’t have to spend the evening looking at formulas and doing math?

by NoNameOnCard on May 13, 2009 7:49 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

luck? small sample?

His rv100 going back to all the pfx data on him since 2007 is -0.695

He’s giving up a few less bases per ball in play and getting ahead a little more often, but his IWZ, Whiff, etc are virtually unchanged from year to year.

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 8:06 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I guess his FIP and tERA haven't historically been too bad.

I may have been confused too much by this season’s spread. It still seems like the three measures (rv100, FIP, tERA) should be fairly parallel to each other.

by NoNameOnCard on May 13, 2009 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

rv100 is based on actual results, I assume.

A ball put into play that’s a single means the pitch was bad, while if it was turned into an out, it counts as a good pitch. I think. Harry?

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on May 13, 2009 8:38 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

No, I think it's nearly that obvious.

See this comment from Harry below.

Every batted ball outcome (BB, HR, K, GIDP, 1B, etc.) has a linear weight assigned to it. We use these for all types of things. For a pitcher, all linear weights combined corresponds to ERC (composite ERA, which is putting a pitcher’s events together in a context-free manner). However, you can also define expected linear weights by count, not just outcome. By definition, the LW of a 0,0 count is 0 (exactly average). At 0,2 the LW is significantly negative, but not quite as negative as a full out. At 3,0 the LW is significantly positive, but not quite as positive as a BB. On a pitch by pitch basis, you assign the change in LW to the pitch. If the ball’s put in play you also assign the change in LW to the pitch based on the count and end result. For example, a single on an 0,2 count costs more to the pitcher than .5 runs, which is the usual amount, because an 0,2 count has a negative LW, say -.2 runs, which isn’t quite the full -.3 runs for a K. That single costs .7 runs to the pitcher.

Of course, if you’re looking at all of a pitcher’s pitches together, you don’t have to go pitch by pitch, you just care about the final result, because of the commutative property. But if you want to judge pitchers by their individual pitches, you add up the individual run value of all curveball or all fastballs or whatever.

I suppose you could do the same thing using run expectancy instead of linear weights, too, where the value of a single or going from one count to another changes based on the base-out state. Or ever with win probability.

For a pitcher, if we’re looking at all of his pitches, the linear weights approach is directly analogous to ERC. And the run expectancy approach is analogous to RA. Well for full innings at least. If a pitcher comes in late or leaves an innings early, run expectancy is different from the way actual runs allowed are credited to pitchers. But over full innings, the sum of RE will always equal actual runs scored and be discrete.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on May 14, 2009 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

yep

single, double, triple, homer, strike, ball. That’s it. And the count it occurred on.

by Harry Pavlidis on May 13, 2009 8:40 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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