5/5 O's at Tampa

[The Rick]

What is BABIP and how is it calculated?

Batting Average against Balls In Play. Since a home run is not in play, it is not taken into account for BABIP.

There is a league median for BABIP that helps in judging whether or not a pitcher has gotten lucky by having an extraordinarily low BABIP, or contrarily unlucky by having an extraordinarily high BABIP.

When DCab got off to a hot start last year, his BABIP was in the low .100's (IIRC), which suggested he was getting lucky. As time went on, his BABIP normalized and his ERA went down the tank as usual.

Someone else can explain it in more detail and much better, but hope this little bit helps.

[Scrat1]

51 pitches through 5.

[waroriole]

The efficiency is similar to the CG that Trachsel threw two years ago against KC. I think he did it in 80-something pitches.

[mcheath21]

He's definitely giving them reason two. Seven Ks through 5. Wow!

Even more impressive is seven k's and only 51 pitches through 5.

[Mackus]

Batting Average against Balls In Play. Since a home run is not in play, it is not taken into account for BABIP.

There is a league median for BABIP that helps in judging whether or not a pitcher has gotten lucky by having an extraordinarily low BABIP, or contrarily unlucky by having an extraordinarily high BABIP.

When DCab got off to a hot start last year, his BABIP was in the low .100's (IIRC), which suggested he was getting lucky. As time went on, his BABIP normalized and his ERA went down the tank as usual.

Someone else can explain it in more detail and much better, but hope this little bit helps.

Also, BABIP is more indicative of luck, either good or bad, for pitchers than it is for hitters. Hitters have much more control over balls they put in play than pitchers do on balls that are put in play against them.

For hitters, its better to judge the BABIP in relation to their LD%. If its a big discrepancy there, then luck is coming into play.

[Sanfran327]

It's batting average on balls in play; pretty self-explanatory.

Word up. Thanks.

So, help me out here... how is this a useful stat? What does it tell you about a hitter? I'm guessing a guy like Izturis has a low BABIP since he does not strike out much, while a guy like Adam Dunn must have a pretty high one considering how frequently he strikes out.

Just trying to find out how/why this is a particularly useful statistic.

Thanks.

[Mackus]

Even more impressive is seven k's and only 51 pitches through 5.

Yeah, I hope this performance can help put to bed the silly notion that strikeouts lead to high pitch counts. They don't.

Walks and hits lead to high pitch counts.

[RVAbird]

6 ground outs to 2 fly outs for Uehara too. Very encouraging.

Again, I'm just following on Gameday, but for a pitcher to throw 84 percent of his pitches for strikes and still rack up 7 Ks through 5 IP is incredible. He's not just pitching to contact. That's command in the zone right there.

It seems like what contact he does induce is weak, too. This is almost a perfect outing so far.

[Mackus]

Word up. Thanks.

So, help me out here... how is this a useful stat? What does it tell you about a hitter? I'm guessing a guy like Izturis has a low BABIP since he does not strike out much, while a guy like Adam Dunn must have a pretty high one considering how frequently he strikes out.

Just trying to find out how/why this is a particularly useful statistic.

Thanks.

Its not terribly useful by itself for hitters (it is pretty useful for pitchers, though).

[barellano]

It will suck if he misses the CG shutout because of the throwing errors. But I won't get ahead of myself just yet.

[The Rick]

Also, BABIP is more indicative of luck, either good or bad, for pitchers than it is for hitters. Hitters have much more control over balls they put in play than pitchers do on balls that are put in play against them.

For hitters, its better to judge the BABIP in relation to their LD%. If its a big discrepancy there, then luck is coming into play.

Thanks for pointing this out. After a couple years, i'm still trying to wrap my head around this stuff.

BTW, how would I find out what the leauge median BABIP is for pitchers?

[Old_Bay_Oriole]

There is so much stuff about baseball that you can learn. That's what helps make it the ultimate sport, or at least the most number filled one. The statistics are amazing.

I need a good baseball book for this.

[waroriole]

Word up. Thanks.

So, help me out here... how is this a useful stat? What does it tell you about a hitter? I'm guessing a guy like Izturis has a low BABIP since he does not strike out much, while a guy like Adam Dunn must have a pretty high one considering how frequently he strikes out.

Just trying to find out how/why this is a particularly useful statistic.

Thanks.

These are pretty good explanations, and better than what I could offer you.

Batting Average against Balls In Play. Since a home run is not in play, it is not taken into account for BABIP.

There is a league median for BABIP that helps in judging whether or not a pitcher has gotten lucky by having an extraordinarily low BABIP, or contrarily unlucky by having an extraordinarily high BABIP.

When DCab got off to a hot start last year, his BABIP was in the low .100's (IIRC), which suggested he was getting lucky. As time went on, his BABIP normalized and his ERA went down the tank as usual.

Someone else can explain it in more detail and much better, but hope this little bit helps.

Also, BABIP is more indicative of luck, either good or bad, for pitchers than it is for hitters. Hitters have much more control over balls they put in play than pitchers do on balls that are put in play against them.

For hitters, its better to judge the BABIP in relation to their LD%. If its a big discrepancy there, then luck is coming into play.

[Old_Bay_Oriole]

Yeah, I hope this performance can help put to bed the silly notion that strikeouts lead to high pitch counts. They don't.

Walks and hits lead to high pitch counts.

Additionally, I would presume that strikeouts are much more likely to happen with 5 or fewer pitches. If a batter can get wood on the ball and consistently foul off pitches, it shows that he's nearly got it.

[Mackus]

Thanks for pointing this out. After a couple years, i'm still trying to wrap my head around this stuff.

BTW, how would I find out what the leauge median BABIP is for pitchers?

I don't know about median, but you could just look at the numbers for the entire league (hitters or pitchers) and get the average pretty quickly.