The most obscure statistic EVER

[Frobby]

Actually heard this from Jim Hunter last night:

Jonathan Schoop had 35 hits in August, tied with Manny Machado for the team lead. It was the most hits in a month by an Orioles second baseman under 24 years old since Billy Ripken in 1987."

Yes, he really said that. Enthusiastically!

[Moose Milligan]

Well, Frobby, there's not much to get excited about these days.

Even the biggest homer ever needs to feign enthusiasm. I can honestly hear him saying that. GEE WHILLIKERS! GOLLY GOSH!! SCHOOP HAS THE MOST HITS SINCE OL' BILLY RIP WAY BACK IN '87!

[DrungoHazewood]

Actually heard this from Jim Hunter last night:

Jonathan Schoop had 35 hits in August, tied with Manny Machado for the team lead. It was the most hits in a month by an Orioles second baseman under 24 years old since Billy Ripken in 1987."

Yes, he really said that. Enthusiastically!

Stuff like that gives real analysis a bad name. I cringe at almost all of the trivia MASN feeds us. My eight-year old will look at the TV and say "look Schoop is the best at that". And it's just too convoluted to try to explain that there is no "that" and it doesn't mean anything at all. They need to just stop with all of it. Even if it was prefaced with "this is totally meaningless and just for fun" it would be counterproductive. I'd much, much, much rather have Ben McDonald telling stories about wrestling alligators or drinking with Pete Harnisch or something than totally invented, worthless factoids. I'd rather have Hunter tell us a 15-second story about getting hit with a foul ball.

[Redskins Rick]

LOL and people rag on Fred Manfred.

I enjoy Fred and Joe on the radio. Nothing wrong with Gary, Ben and Palmer, but the radio guys are just better. Of course, its only an opinion and everybody has different tastes.

[Sanfran327]

Doesn't the viewer have to accept SOME responsibility to know that it's meaningless though? I mean, at least you can get a half a grin out of knowing that he's a young, promising player with a figure like that. No?

Perhaps I'm not hardcore enough to identify that as a complete throw away statistic.

And for the record, I'd also rather hear Hunter talking about getting hit by a foul ball.

[DrungoHazewood]

LOL and people rag on Fred Manfred.

I enjoy Fred and Joe on the radio. Nothing wrong with Gary, Ben and Palmer, but the radio guys are just better. Of course, its only an opinion and everybody has different tastes.

We're not complaining about the announcer, not really. Sure, a real smart guy like Palmer would probably try to gloss over this. But it's really the MASN folks who feed this stuff to us via those graphics. And the MLB-official Elias Bureau that hasn't provided any value added to anything since bb-ref came up with the play index and everyone in their living room could do their job, better, if they wanted to.

Doesn't the viewer have to accept SOME responsibility to know that it's meaningless though? I mean, at least you can get a half a grin out of knowing that he's a young, promising player with a figure like that. No?

Perhaps I'm not hardcore enough to identify that as a complete throw away statistic.

Maybe I'm asking too much, but I think that MASN and the Elias folks should be presenting us with information that sheds light on some aspect of baseball in a way that most of their viewers can understand. But instead they show us circus sideshow stats that are often splits of splits of meaningless samples of data, almost always hand-picked to supposedly make the Orioles look great. Every single game they show some "Hot or Not" thing that lets us know some Oriole is slugging .510 over his last 17 PAs, while some opponent is only 2 for his last 15. It's mindless. It's intentionally obscuring the truth. It's taking your radio and turning up the static while turning down the music.

[OFFNY]

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[DrungoHazewood]

I mean, at least you can get a half a grin out of knowing that he's a young, promising player with a figure like that. No?

Here's the issue boiled down to a few bullet points:

1) No context. No one thinks about hits in a month. What's good? What's not? What's the all time record? It's probably something like 60, in which case 35 doesn't seem that impressive.

2) What has the rest of the non-Oriole world done in those 28 years? Maybe the Orioles just haven't had anyone fitting the criteria. Maybe the other teams have had a ton more than the O's. In 1989 Roberto Alomar (first guy I thought of and looked at) had three different months at the age of 21 where he had 34 or more hits.

3) Why did they say age 24? Why second basemen instead of "players"? Almost certainly because if they didn't very carefully select the criteria Schoop would be much further down the list. If they'd said 28 instead, they'd run into Roberto Alomar in 1996 when hit .328 and had three different months with more hits than Schoop.

To sum up: They intentionally set the criteria to avoid unpleasant truths and make their point seem awesome when it's almost always unremarkable.

[TouchemAll]

Actually heard this from Jim Hunter last night:

Jonathan Schoop had 35 hits in August, tied with Manny Machado for the team lead. It was the most hits in a month by an Orioles second baseman under 24 years old since Billy Ripken in 1987."

Yes, he really said that. Enthusiastically!

HOT DAMN we win tonight now!!! :laughlol: :rofl:

[Three Run Homer]

I haven't been able to see the early part of the MASN broadcasts lately. Are they still running that idiotic American Standard "Who's Hot/Who's Not" feature, where it's always an Orioles who's "Hot" and an opponent who's "Not"? I'd hate to be the person in charge of finding "Who's Hot" on the Orioles right now. (Can't just keep putting Steve Clevenger's picture out there, I guess)

[Odenton O]

Doesn't the viewer have to accept SOME responsibility to know that it's meaningless though? I mean, at least you can get a half a grin out of knowing that he's a young, promising player with a figure like that. No?

Well, as Drungo pointed out, a lot of times the viewer is 8. I learned an awful lot about baseball by listening to Palmer and Brooks do color commentary back in the late 80s/early 90s. I also absorbed an awful lot from listening to Tim McCarver do playoff games. Is that a good thing? I have no idea anymore.

[Drifter]

LOL and people rag on Fred Manfred.

I enjoy Fred and Joe on the radio. Nothing wrong with Gary, Ben and Palmer, but the radio guys are just better. Of course, its only an opinion and everybody has different tastes.

My problem with Fred Manfra is that... in my opinion, he calls the game like he is only speaking to radio listeners at the ball-park, or those watching it on TV. He describes everything to a bare minimum, and with too many pregnant pauses.

As for statistics, yeppers... too much put on stupid little things that really have no relation to the individual games. I'm glad Schoop had 35 hits, but they went 11-18 in August. I'd rather had more wins.

[Woody Held]

Jim Hunter drives me nuts with the useless data. I am sure its MASN driven but he delivers it with such vigor

"Joe blow is on a two game hit streak"

The Orioles have won 100 percent of their games when they are ahead after 9 innings

[notfast]

I'm sure Hunter didn't come up with the stat himself. Have you seen the sheets the teams distribute to the media before game? Looks like the type of stat that would be on that.

[SeaBird]

Actually heard this from Jim Hunter last night:

Jonathan Schoop had 35 hits in August, tied with Manny Machado for the team lead. It was the most hits in a month by an Orioles second baseman under 24 years old since Billy Ripken in 1987."

Yes, he really said that. Enthusiastically!

I heard the comment and thought to myself, “So?” But you know what they say, “A port in any storm.” Any positive/feel good hook they can hang their hats on. Like Bordick. If he was on the Titanic he’d say, “Hey, look guys! Free ice!!!”