I'm starting to pay attention now

[Frobby]

Yesterday, Ubaldo was the first starter to pitch into the 5th inning. The goal this time through the rotation is to complete 5 innings or throw 75 pitches. Most of the other teams are in the same place, and the starting position players are beginning to play more often and get more at bats in the games they play (all the players in the O's starting lineup got at least 3 PA yesterday, and six of the nine were players who are likely to be on the OD roster, even though this was an away game).

In short, this is the part of the spring where the stats are more meaningful. The rust is largely scraped off and the competition is better. It's time to start paying attention.

[El Gordo]

Yesterday, Ubaldo was the first starter to pitch into the 5th inning. The goal this time through the rotation is to complete 5 innings or throw 75 pitches. Most of the other teams are in the same place, and the starting position players are beginning to play more often and get more at bats in the games they play (all the players in the O's starting lineup got at least 3 PA yesterday, and six of the nine were players who are likely to be on the OD roster, even though this was an away game).

In short, this is the part of the spring where the stats are more meaningful. The rust is largely scraped off and the competition is better. It's time to start paying attention.

It's time to pay attention to how they look, not their results. Are they having QAB's, are they squaring the ball up with regularity? How do they look with the glove? Are they making good pitches, etc. The numbers are still meaningless IMO.

[Frobby]

It's time to pay attention to how they look, not their results. Are they having QAB's, are they squaring the ball up with regularity? How do they look with the glove? Are they making good pitches, etc. The numbers are still meaningless IMO.

Not quite meaningless.

[T]he claim that spring-training numbers are useless is wrong. Not a little bit wrong, not debatably wrong -- demonstrably and conclusively wrong. To be sure, the figures are noisy. But they still contain a signal. At the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference held in Boston on February 27th-28th, I presented a study (see slides) that explained how to extract the statistical golden nuggets buried in this troublesome dataset, and offered some lessons this example provides for the practice of quantitative sports research more broadly.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2015/03/baseball-statistics

[El Gordo]

Not quite meaningless.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2015/03/baseball-statistics

This is just an excuse for not having the time or inclination to actually watch the games. Or understand what is being seen. meh.

[joeyc]

It's time to pay attention to how they look, not their results. Are they having QAB's, are they squaring the ball up with regularity? How do they look with the glove? Are they making good pitches, etc. The numbers are still meaningless IMO.

Can we score? NO!!!

[DrungoHazewood]

Not quite meaningless.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2015/03/baseball-statistics

So your spring numbers are maybe half or a third as meaningful as any other 50 AB sample picked out of the middle of the year? In other words, if we have 1000 MLB regular season PAs prior to this year to go on, spring might add the equivalent of 20 PAs to that total. And if Jimmy Paredes goes 30-for-30 that might move his expectation from a .609 OPS to a .635.

[wildcard]

ST will not be meaningless to the guys that get DFA'd.

[DrungoHazewood]

ST will not be meaningless to the guys that get DFA'd.

For the majority of the players who will be DFA'd, they would have been DFA'd anyway if we were just going on prior records.

[wildcard]

For the majority of the players who will be DFA'd, they would have been DFA'd anyway if we were just going on prior records.

Majority but not all.

[PA724_Oriole]

It's baseball after a lengthy winter. I've been paying attention, just not expecting anything but them getting better every game. The next two weeks is just as meaningless as the first two. The only focus should be on getting better. ST stats are never meaningful other than to the guys on the bubble.

[El Gordo]

ST will not be meaningless to the guys that get DFA'd.

It's not that ST is meaningless, just the numbers are.

[SteveA]

It's not that ST is meaningless, just the numbers are.

Exactly, as I have posted before, the players ARE evaluated on spring training. Not simply on the raw statistics they accumulate. As many have pointed out, that is a ridiculously small sample size compared to their major league track record.

But they practice every day. They take BP, they hit in games. The results (single or out) don't matter but you can be darn sure the coaches are watching their at bats both in practice, in non-stat games like 'B' games, and in games. How are they hitting the ball? How are they doing what they are instructed to work on? How does their swing look?

And their work habits and fielding ability and everything else they do is evaluated. Not just in the games, but in practice and preparation.

Judgements are being made. That doesn't mean someone is sitting there saying, oh, he's 7 for 19, that's a .367 batting average, he must be better than the guy who is 4 for 21 (.181). But the coaches are making decisions based on the sum total of what they observe. Not just stats but quality of all their activities in spring training, of which the actual games are a small but not insignificant part.

The idea that the players' career numbers are somehow cast in stone and therefore what they do for 40+ days in Sarasota has zero effect on whether they make the team absurd, just as absurd as the idea that a guy who hits .300 in 37 spring at bats gains some significant advantage over someon who hits .237. Both extreme sides of this argument are completely missing the reality of the matter.

[rudyrooster]

This is just an excuse for not having the time or inclination to actually watch the games. Or understand what is being seen. meh.

I second your meh. All in favor....

[Frobby]

By the way, guess what team leads the American League in homers this spring? Hint: it's the team that led the league in homers last year, and lost their top HR hitter from last season to free agency.

[bobmc]

By the way, guess what team leads the American League in homers this spring? Hint: it's the team that led the league in homers last year, and lost their top HR hitter from last season to free agency.

Meh - meaningless! Well except for the coaches, twitter geeks and Scott Boras....:slytf: