The Sabermetric Revolution: Assessing the Growth of Analytics in Baseball (32 page)

onbase
metric

component weight in Saber-Intensity (SI) Index

scatterplot of

teams with historically highest scores.
See also
On-Base Percentage (OBP)

On-Base Percentage (OBP)

as batting statistic

effect of on runs scored

effect of on winning percentage

effect of park factor adjustments on

OPS and

as pitching statistic

predicting future values of

as superior to Batting Average

of various MLB players.
See also
Batting Average (BA); Offensive Performance Statistic (OPS);
onbase
metric; weighted onbase average (wOBA)

openWAR.
See
Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

OPS.
See
Offensive Performance Statistic (OPS)

Orthwein, Jim

Ortiz, David

Palmer, Pete

Parker, Ryan

passer rating

payroll compression.
See also
team payrolls

payrolls.
See
team payrolls

PECOTA

Pedroia, Dustin

Pelton, Kevin

Peña, Carlos

Pendleton, Terry

Percentage Baseball
(Cook, 1964)

Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Phillies: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

saber-intensity of

Pinto, David

PITCHf/x

pitching statistics

of minor leaguers

platoon effects and

reliability and accuracy of.
See also
Defense Independent Pitching Statistics (DIPS); Earned Run Average (ERA); Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP); Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA); Walk Rate (WR)

Pittsburgh Pirates: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

plate appearances, outcomes of

platoon effect

player development systems

player evaluation rating (PER)

player salaries

effect of hitting skills on

impact of hitting statistics on.
See also
labor market valuations; team payrolls

Player Win Averages
(Mills, 1972)

playoff berths: effect of market size on

plus/minus system

Portland Trailblazers

positioning

predictive analytics

for batting

for pitching

for various sports

Probabilistic Model of Range

Project Scoresheet

hit location diagram

Protrade Sports

Pujol, Albert

Pythagorean Expectation

Ramirez, Manny

randomness

range factor (RF)

regression to the mean

reliability

of batting metrics

of fielding metrics

of pitching metrics

Retrosheet

revenue sharing

in non-MLB sports

Reyes, Jose

Reynolds, Mark

Ricciardi, J.P.

Rickey, Branch

Riemann hypotheses

Rincon, Ricardo

Rodriguez, Alex

Romer, David

Rosenbaum, Dan

Roth, Allan

Rucker, Alex

run expectancy matrix.
See also
expected run matrix

runs scored (RS): average per game, per season

effect of Batting Average on

effect of On-Base Percentage on

effect of on Win Percentage

effect of OPS on

effect of Walk Rate on

impact of hitting statistics on

Saber-Intensity (SI) Index

relationship to Win Percentage

teams with historically high scores

weight of various components of

sacbunt
metric

component weight in Saber-Intensity (SI) Index

sacrifice bunting

effect of on sabermetric index

effect of on Win Percentage

sabermetric opposition to.
See also sacbunt
metric

SAFE.
See
Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation (SAFE)

Saint Louis Cardinals: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

onbase
scores of

San Diego Padres: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco Giants: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

Sauer, R. D.

Saunders, Joe

Schilling, Curt

Schmidt, Martin

Schott, Steve

Schuerholz, John

Schwarz, Alan

Seattle Mariners: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

onbase
scores of

use of sabermetrics by

Seattle SuperSonics

Selig, Bud

Shapiro, Mark

SI index.
See
Saber-Intensity (SI) Index

Silver, Nate

Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA)

Slugging Percentage (SLG).
See also iso
metric

Smith, Dave

Smith, Sean

Smith, Tal

Smoltz, John

soccer

Span, Denard

Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation (SAFE)

split pool plans

Stanley, Steve

STATS LLC

Stavisky, Brian

Stengel, Casey

Sternberg, Stuart

steroid use

stolen bases.
See
base stealing

straight pool plans

streakiness

strikeout rate

as batting statistic

as pitching statistic

year-to-year reliability of

strikeout-to-walk ratio: as batting statistic

as pitching statistic

Swisher, Nick

switch-hitting

talent compression

Tampa Bay Rays

effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

onbase
scores of

payroll of

saber-intensity of

successful use of sabermetrics by

use of sabermetrics by

Tango, Tom

Teahen, Mark

team payrolls

coefficient of variation of

competitive balance and

payroll compression

relationship to Win Percentage

revenue sharing and

sabermetric intensity (SI) index and

use of sabermetrics to reduce.
See also
player salaries

team revenue: effect of stadiums on

relationship to winning percentage.
See also
revenue sharing

Tejada, Miguel

TENDEX formula

Texas Rangers: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

Thome, Jim

Thorn, John

Tippett, Tom

Toronto Blue Jays

effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

saber-intensity of

sacrifice bunting and

Trouble with the Curve
(2012)

true defensive range (TDR)

TruMedia

2002 amateur draft

Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR)

“Underestimating the Fog,” (James)

Upton, B. J.

Utley, Chase

UZR.
See
Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR)

Value Over Replacement Player (VORP)

Verducci, Tom

video analytics

Votto, Joey

Walker, Dixie

Walker, Eric

Walk Rate (WR)

as batting statistic

impact of on player salaries

impact of on runs scored

as pitching statistic

reliability of

undervaluing of

walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP)

Wang, Victor

WAR.
See
Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

Washington Nationals: effect of park factor adjustments on

employees working in analytics

last-place finishes of

Wasynczuk, Andy

Weaver, Earl

weighted On-Base Average (wOBA)

Weil, Sandy

Wells, Vernon

Williams, Kenny

Win Percentage (WPCT)

effect of hitting skills on

effect of payroll on

effect of run scored/allowed ratio on

James’ Pythagorean Expectation and

ratio of standard deviation to idealized standard deviation

relationship of team revenue to

revenue sharing and

Saber-Intensity (SI) Index and

Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

of Oakland A’s draftees

Winston, Wayne

wOBA.
See
weighted On-Base Average (wOBA)

Wood, Mike

Woolner, Keith

WPCT.
See
Win Percentage (WPCT)

WR.
See
Walk Rate (WR)

Wright, Craig

Wright, David

XR.
See
eXtrapolated Runs per 27 outs (XR)

yardage charts

Zaidi, Farhan

Zduriencik, Jack

Zito, Barry

Zone Rating.
See also
Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR)

Many practitioners, colleagues, friends, and sports industry mavens have been enormously helpful to us in the preparation of this book. In particular, we would like to thank Ben Alamar, Jim Albert, Sandy Alderson, Dave Allen, TJ Barra, Dave Berri, Roger Blair, Dave Cameron, Will Carroll, James Click, Daniel Cohen, Mark Cuban, Frank Deford, Christina DePasquale, Paul DePodesta, Dan Duquette, Meaghan Fileti, Adam Fisher, Sarah Gelles, Jessica Gelman, Gary Gillette, Wyc Grousbeck, Dave Heeren, John Henry, Nick Horton, Bill James, Shane Jensen, Michael Kalt, Ari Kaplan, Stan Kasten, Ken Kovash, Jonathan Kraft, Keith Law, Randy Levine, Mickey Lichtman, Chris Long, Larry Lucchino, Rob Manfred, Chris Marinak, Trent McCotter, Daryl Morey, Dan Okrent, Dean Oliver, Pete Palmer, Chris Picardo, James Piette, John Ricco, Dan Rosenbaum, Dan Rosencheck, Ken Rosenthal, Steve Ross, Skip Sauer, Alan Schwarz, Mark Shapiro, Nate Silver, Mark Simon, Dave Smith, Stacey Solliday, Charles Steinberg, John Thorn, Tom Tippett, Tom Verducci, Earl Weaver, and Frank Westhoff. We are especially grateful to Jim Logue and Tom Tango, who provided careful comments on our entire manuscript.

More generally, we would like to thank all those in the sports industry who have unselfishly shared their time, expertise, anecdotes, and passion with us over the years.

We would also like to lovingly thank our families, Cory, Maggie, Don, Polly, Jeanne, Shelley, Alex, Ella, Jeff and Mike, for supporting us through our distractions and preoccupations while working on this project.