Comments on: Don’t disparage the strikeout

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:38:51 +0000

love the simpsons reference

By: JAG

JAG — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:52:50 +0000

Can I make a caveat? Give me Adam Dunns at all 3 OF positions who can actually field those positions adequately. Actually putting Adam Dunn in CF would be a recipe for disaster.

-JM

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:17:25 +0000

i will also point out that Brazillian football is that because they are insanely dominant, not because of their “style” if they start losing badly at the world cup you think they still be popular because they did it while looking good?

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:09:55 +0000

really, so you would rather have a 100 loss team rather than a 100 win team of Adam Dunns?

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:07:25 +0000

ehhh, I’d generally think that at the highest level, you work with whatever you have, your not going to turn Ryan Howard into a contact hitter, at the same time your also not going to turn a Joe DiMaggio into Reggie Jackson. (and Reggie Jackson’s value isn’t really higher than Joe D either)

By: Closing Bits: A-Rod, Strikeouts, Pujols vs Ruth, Andrew Brackman, Ryan Church | The iYankees Blog - A New York Yankees Blog

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:01:23 +0000

[...] P. at River Ave Blues has a great read out on normative perceptions of the [...]

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:55:55 +0000

Willies Mays also had more than twice as many Ks as HRs, clearly DiMaggio > Mays

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:54:01 +0000

i for one, enjoy a blog a lot more when guys who can’t read serious analysis don’t show up.

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:52:50 +0000

yes, but the fact is that no one would hit 30% line drive and consistently make those outs year in and year out. where as some will consistently whiff a lot but still keep doing their damage.

By: RollingWave

RollingWave — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:47:25 +0000

That is because, studies have also notice that pitchers generally can not consistently get people out when they let them put it in play. more or less, pretty much everyone from Gregg Maddux to Kei Igawa still let around 30%ish of the guys who put it in play reach safely. however, similar studies conclude that the correlation between whiffing and actually NOT making outs isn’t nearly as consistent for hitters.

Now, strike out matters, making outs in general matters. but the problem is that the conventional way of looking at things tend to overstate just how important it is, to the point where some actually prefer say.. a .300/.320/.500 guy over a .250/.400/.500 guy

Strike outs matter, everything being equal you’d prefer a guy to be able to make contact then whiff a lot, but the fact is that plenty of people look at the whiff before they look at the overall production is wrong. hence you have the Nick Swisher issue, where some will insist that he suck despite the fact that he make outs at a WELL below league average rate and his overall slugging line is also above average.

The funny thing is that these same people’s head will explode when you tell them that Nick Swisher whiffs at a similar pace to Reggie Jackson. in fact, one could very well argue that so far in his career Swisher is basically Reggie Jackson with about 90% of the power. (of course, this is compared to Jackson’s entire career. so Reggie is obviously a lot better. but still makes a reasonable case on Swisher’s value)