NEW! Season-to-date VORP reports for hitters are now updated weekly.
NEW! On Replacement Level and VORP -- An all-new explanation of VORP, how it's computed, and why replacement level is important.
A description of Marginal Lineup Value (MLV) -- MLV is a technique for estimating the overall change in run scoring resulting from adding a single player to an existing lineup.
The Sagarin number, simply! Tom Fontaine takes a hard look at Jeff Sagarin's player ratings (as found in Baseball Weekly), and shows a simple relationship between Sagarin's seemingly complicated rating, and plain old batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging average.
RBI's are meaningless??? Many statistically-inclined baseball scholars think that RBI's tell you far less about who the good hitters are as previously believed. This usually touches off a storm of criticism from traditional fans, who bristle at the idea that RBI's aren't meaningful. This article attempts to set the record straight.
Does Clutch Hitting Exist? David Grabiner examines whether some hitters have the ability to perform better with the game on the line.
Batting With RISP -- David Grabiner tackles the clutch hitting issue from another angle, looking at the performance of hitters with runners in scoring position.
Can you protect a hitter? -- David Grabiner disputes the commonly held belief that having a big hitter "protecting" another slugger in the lineup actually improves the hitter's overall production.
Major League Equivalencies -- Bill James developed a system for translating minor league stats to an equivalent major league performance. David Grabiner tests the system to see if it has any validity.
Invisible Offense -- Tom Fontaine takes a look at a factor that has a powerful effect on offensive production, but often gets lost among flashier stats.
BRIG -- Similar to SPRIG, this is Tom Fontaine's unique grading system applied to the performance of batters. Exclusive to Stathead's Baseball Engineering Library!
Peak ages for hitters -- A recent article in Baseball Weekly sparked a long debate in the online baseball community about whether batters reach their highest production, on average, at age 27, or after age 30. This article presents two studies which support the age 27 conclusion. These studies were mentioned in Baseball Weekly in a followup article on the same topic.
Finding Better Batting Orders -- Mark Pankin uses Markov process modelling to perform an indepth examiniation of the relationship between lineup position and run scoring.
Subtle Aspects Of The Game -- Mark Pankin quantifies some of the lesser-appreciated talents, such as baserunning, and avoiding double plays.
Speed, Strikeouts, (Base Advancement), and Scoring -- Mark Pankin delves deeper into the effects of fast runners, team strikeouts, and advancing runners from 2nd to 3rd.
Offensive Replacment Level -- Clifford Blau tracks several players through their careers to determine what replacement level is. A different methodology than what Stathead uses in looking at replacement level, but still an interesting and worthwhile analysis.
Stolen Bases and Caught Stealing -- How devastating is it for a runner to be caught stealing at second base? Is it worth the risk to advance a runner into scoring position? How successful do you need to be to make it worthwhile? John F. Jarvis uses computer simulation to provide an answer.
The Effect of Batting Order on Runs Scored -- Roger Moore used computer simulation to analyze the importance of the lineup order on offensive production.
Run Production in the DH Era -- Jefferson Glapski statistically analyzes several seasons worth of data to investigate what factors contribute most to run scoring.
POWER -- Jim Furtado doesn't like the stats most commonly used to measure power. So he did what any good sabermetrician would do -- he invented his own approach to deal with the shortcomings he perceived.
Forecasting batters: The "K"-rystal ball -- Is strikeout rate a leading indicator of future success in the majors for a young hitter? This study compares 25 year old hitters who differ by strikeout rate to see how well they're doing 5 years later. An article by Stathead's own Keith Woolner.
BPA -- Measuring Offensive Performance -- Bill Gilbert contributes an analysis of 1997 offensive performance using Bases per Plate Appearance.
Favorite Toy -- Stephen Shauger uses a Bill James innovation to answer the question: "Will (baseball player) get (milestone amount) of (predictable offensive stat)?" Stats tracked includes Hits, Home Runs, RBI, and Runs Scored.