Quote:
Originally Posted by zrog2000
What stats are best in determining whether this is a player worth trading a lot for?
|
If I'm looking for a home run hitter I want to know his home run rate. I'll also want to know how many of those home runs were to right field (if that's the issue). I may also look at his R/L splits. The average distance the ball went is
very useful because if he hits the ball 360' and my fence is 361' then I may think twice. If the distance of the home runs is known, and because speed is simply time over distance and easily inferred, the actual speed number isn't that important. The distance is already telling me how fast the ball traveled. I know it has to be going a certain speed (which can be calculated by a competent physicist) to go that far in the first place. To go back to my previous examples, if a ball flew clear out of Wrigley Field (without any help from the wind) it
must have been going a certain speed, knowing the actual speed down to the tenth of a mph is not vital at all.
If our hypothetical batter has a good HR rate on balls to right field and the distance puts his average HR well beyond my fences,, acceptable R/L splits, and acceptable K rates (AEV doesn't help if you don't hit the ball very often) knowing the actual AEV really doesn't add much to evaluation and this is a player who may be worth an investment. Knowing the number to the mph is a nice piece of window dressing. It's not vital,
especially if I know the average distance.
Finally, if any team is serious about trading for a player they send their scouts to look at him. There is no player a GM has never watched, either in person or on video and hasn't been thoroughly scouted.