Quote:
Originally Posted by Prodigal Son
About 96% of the time, you are right. The other 4% of the time, the result is not the same either way: the guy who hits the single gets an extra base or two due to a fielding error. A guy like Ichiro has hit 200 singles in seasons before, so that would result, typically, in about 10 extra bases off of errors made on fielding those singles.*
Put another way, if you traded 100 bases-empty walks for 100 bases-empty singles, it would be actually be like trading those 100 walks for 95 singles, 4 doubles, and a triple in terms of run-scoring value/value to the team. This is the unrepresented value of a single on an individual player's stat sheet. This is all very interesting to me.
And, of course, a single is a lot more valuable with guys on base (which we've acknowledged). I actually think walks have become OVERRATED by a lot of people lately, coming on the heels of several years of being underrated.
*This uses league fielding average for a quick example. I would have to check the data to see if errors made on singles occur at the same rate as errors made on, say, assumed ground outs to claim this with 100% certainty. |
You won't get an argument from me there.
My point was and it was definitely lost because I did not explain myself well enough was that the act of getting a single and the act of getting a walk, not factoring in anyone on base or the play resulting in an error produced the same output...Man on 1st.
Joe made such a blanket statement about how singles are better than walks and never explained himself it was just hilarious to hear him say it and not explain why he said it.
I know that I as well as many others go out of our way to bash Joe, but it is so hard because he is such an unlikable commentator and he says such absurd things.