The Couch Potato's Guide to Baseball Statistics

Number-crunching has revolutionized baseball. Through its new dependence on advanced statistics, known as sabermetrics, the game has taken on a new language that sometimes is difficult to understand. This book is an introduction to the basics of analytical terms, and to the people, websites, and organizations, who are creating and discussing these new tools of measurement. We have attempted to explain these novel concepts as simply as possible and to discuss their various applications in today’s game. By starting to understand this process, fans like you can become more astute at critiquing the decision-makers who put teams together, assess the game-time strategies made by field managers, and discuss the overall performance by everyday players. In writing this book, we contacted minor league managers, broadcasters, and administrators and those professionals who were developing these new statistical terms, in addition to, of course, exploring the internet. And what surprises awaited us! We realized that many people were basically in our shoes; that is, trying to make sense of the new language, abbreviations, and numbers. Even though many who we contacted were more advanced in understanding the language of sabermetrics, we learned that their opinions still varied about its value. Certainly, the measures were a different and exciting way to view the action on the field. These numbers have become a newer way to view player production, both currently and across generations. What we learned is that some of the new statistics really do provide a better way to argue about how players in the 1920s or 1960s compare to today’s greats. These measures also provide a foundation of knowledge pertaining to decision-making on the field (the reasons for increased uses of defensive shifts, for example), or why a certain pitcher or hitter has suddenly improved (such as increased use of spin velocity or being able to increase bat speed). Throughout the book, we have tried to give the reader many examples of why these values have beco