How To Win The World Series Ep 7: Hard Hits Hits come in all different shapes and sizes: swinging bunts, hard hit ground balls, balls poked into the outfield, and good ole fashioned line drives. Announcers are famous for saying the stat sheet doesn’t know the difference between these hits, however in this analytical empire this is no longer the case. Baseball savant tracks every single ball in play. They track launch angle and exit velocity which when combined essentially show the stat sheet exactly how every ball is hit. Hitting the ball hard doesn’t always translate to a hit; sometimes batters will hit balls over 100MPH+, but right at a fielder. They did nothing wrong, they just got unlucky. Over the long haul of a season, players who hit the ball the hardest get the most hits and home runs. When scaled up to teams as a whole, the team with the highest average exit velocity is the best batting team in the league most of the time. So I decided to see how the world series winner fared every year. The results surprised me there were plenty of championship teams who finished around average or even below average. I think the biggest explanation for this is that you have to get lucky when it comes to the postseason and if you hit too many line drives you might not be lucky enough to take home the Commissioner's Trophy. #baseball #r #coding #analytics
The net is that it pays off to hit the ball hard during the regular season, but it isn't much of a factor during post season? Is that right Joe Zagielski #anayltics #baseball #r
Director - Health & Life Sciences at Microsoft
4moJoe, super fascinating and can imagine you are a fan of Moneyball as I am too! I have appreciated your last few posts on baseball stats as well! Nonetheless, baseball stats have always fascinated me. While luck is certainly a part of the game for sure, but there is strategy as well. Kirk Gibson of the Tigers comes to mind in the 84 World Series when Goose Gossage wanted to throw against Kirk when his manager said they should walk him because his bat was hot. Sparky (Tiger's Manager) knew it and loved it. Sure enough, Goose threw strikes and Gibson knocked it out of the park. Was that luck or strategy? Tigers won that World Series. Kirk Gibson playing for the Dodgers in a ton of pain, last man standing in the dugout and Tommy Lasorda (mgr) needed someone to get out there and get them a hit. Kirk at the time could barely walk let alone hit the ball because he was in so much pain. Nonetheless, he loved the game, and would NEVER miss a chance to help his team win the game. Result, home run. Was that luck or strategy? Dodgers went on to win that World Series. Here are clips of both these episodes, enjoy! https://youtu.be/sSg0vi56syw?si=bIl71GiPJX2dxS9h https://youtu.be/N4nwMDZYXTI?si=ectIb3Eu2YYOTncV