Fangraphs: Pitching Inside and Hitting Batters

[weams]

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/first-blood-retaliation-and-piling-on/

A Pirates batter was hit by a pitch before an opponent was in 61 games, accounting for nearly 70% of the team?s hit batters. But Pirates pitchers drew first blood in 56% of their games as well. Overall, retaliation accounted for only 20% of batters hit by Pirates pitchers in games. Over the course of a series, when my hit batter today can result in your hit batter tomorrow, retaliation explains only 32% of Pirates opponents hit. Even with the most liberal definition of retaliation, when it can be spread over the weeks or months of a season series, it still accounts for just 43%, less than half of batters hit by Pirates pitchers. Not that it was different on the other side: Pirates hit in retaliation accounted for only 15% of hit batters in games, 33% in series, and 39% in season series. The majority of hit batters occurred without seeming provocation.

Let?s compare the results of the Pirates games to those of the random distribution presented above. For Pirates pitchers, a random distribution would be 9 First Blood, 33 Retaliation, and 33 Piling On. Actual figures: 9, 32, 34. For Pirates batters, a random distribution would be 10 First Blood, 39 Retaliation, and 39 Piling On. Actual figures: 11, 35, 43. Those distributions (1) are pretty close to random and (2) feature less retaliation than a random distribution would suggest.

Does backing batters off the plate correlate to Pittsburgh pitching success?

[clapdiddy]

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/first-blood-retaliation-and-piling-on/

Does backing batters off the plate correlate to Pittsburgh pitching success?

Probably doesn't hurt. I really wish Gausman would throw inside a little more often.

[weams]

Probably doesn't hurt. I really wish Gausman would throw inside a little more often.

Bud did that. When he was good.

[bird watcher]

I remember looking into this years ago and there being a pretty positive correlation between hit batsmen and positive results. It worked for Roger Clemens.

[Il BuonO]

Bud Norris hit a few guys.