Hardball Times: Big Data

[weams]

http://www.hardballtimes.com/big-data-baseball-a-big-hit/

But where do the subjective and objective meet? Fitzgerald cites an example. Say a batter excels against fastballs on the outer half of the plate from left-handed pitchers. But then what about the two lefties in the Pirates' bullpen - Tony Watson and Justin Wilson both have rare, for left-handed pitchers, upper-90s fastball velocity. Maybe that batter has done damage against four-seam fastballs on the outer half, but how many 97 and 98 mph fastballs has he actually seen and hit? Here is where Fitzgerald and Fox dig deeper, seeking more subjective and objective information.

?So it?s an art in the sense of what we get from the raw information doesn't always tell the whole story. How were the pitches set up? Were there runners in scoring position that were tipping pitches [to the batter]? At the end of the day you can make the argument that [the art] is just refining the data, but in a way there are still situations that come up where there is gray area and you have to massage through it,? Fitzgerald said. ?I like to think that is where we do damage, where we can get value out of it.?