Title: Data Architect - Baseball Analytics
Location: Cleveland, OH

Description: The Cleveland Indians are currently scouting for a Data Architect to work in our Baseball Operations Department. This individual will report to the Director of Baseball Operations while assisting both the Baseball and Information Systems Departments.

This individual will be a technical resource to the baseball analytics department, taking on increasing responsibility to design, implement, and manage the Baseball Department’s information architecture.

Responsibilities include:

• Creating data models, developing processes for extraction, transformation, cleansing, and loading a variety of internal and external data sources;
• Creating and maintaining business rules and metadata to ensure data consistency, designing and implementing a data warehouse of baseball information.
• Other responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, statistical analysis and baseball research, application and web development, and user interface and data visualization design.

Candidates must possess:
• A Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Computer Science or a related field, along with demonstrated work experience designing and managing data warehouses, creating OLAP cubes, and using reporting tools.
• Experience with Oracle (preferred) or another major database system including advanced knowledge of SQL and/or MDX is required.
• Experience with any of the following are highly desirable: database administration, ETL and/or BI tools, application development in .NET and/or Java.
• Proficiency in statistical analysis software packages (R, STATA, SAS, SPSS) is desirable, as is familiarity with current baseball research and analytics.

For more information or to apply, visit http://www.indians.com/jobs , Requisition Number 10-0025. Interested candidates must apply online to be considered.

-------

Title: Baseball Analyst
Location: Cleveland, OH

Description: The Cleveland Indians are currently scouting for a Baseball Analyst to work in our Baseball Operations Department. This individual will report to the Manager of Baseball Analytics while assisting both the Baseball and Information Systems Departments.

Responsibilities include:

• Performing advanced statistical analysis on large volumes of baseball-related data and implementing predictive models to aid in departmental decision making.
• Creating reports, charts, tables, graphics, and other tools to deliver information to staff in concise and readable formats;
• Advising and assisting other analysts and staff on proper selection and implementation of techniques in statistical analysis and data mining;
• Monitoring developments in statistical fields to identify new algorithms or methods applicable to baseball problems;
• Evaluating published sabermetric research to ascertain its value and applicability to internal models and processes.
• Other projects may be assigned consistent with departmental needs and candidate skills.

Candidates must possess:
• A Master’s degree (or higher) in Statistics, Operations Research, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field.
• This individual must possess expert knowledge of modern statistical analysis and/or machine learning techniques.
• Significant experience with R, STATA, SPSS, SAS, or similar software is required.
• Strong knowledge of baseball, particularly in sabermetrics is also required.
• Experience with a database system such as Oracle or SQL Server, and proficiency with SQL is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to advise, consult, mentor, or teach others is desirable.
• The ability to communicate complex concepts at an appropriate level to colleagues possessing a wide range of backgrounds is also important.

For more information or to apply, visit http://www.indians.com/jobs , Requisition Number 10-0024. Interested candidates must apply online to be considered.

I'll put an end to my quartet of splits-related postings by looking at one more area I find tremendously interesting - power to all fields. There are some guys in baseball who can only drive the ball when they turn on it, but they've figured out how to do that enough to make it work. Other guys, though, can launch a pitch to any part of the field. These guys have power to all fields. It doesn't matter where you pitch them - if they hit it, it's going a long way.

I browsed through the split data for guys with reputations for serious power. Here are the breakdowns of career ISO by field for three classic, big-time sluggers:

Adam Dunn:

To Left: .272
To Center: .294
To Right: .518

Mark Reynolds:

To Left: .449
To Center: .395
To Right: .267

Russell Branyan:

To Left: .377
To Center: .376
To Right: .456

Dunn and Reynolds both hit for power in any direction, but they have pretty significant gaps between their pull field and their opposite field. They are pull power guys who also are strong enough to hit one out the other way when they make contact, but they're not your traditional "power to all fields" type of hitter. Branyan is much more like that, and is among the best examples of this description. When he makes contact, he's going to hit the crap out of the ball more often than not.

I can't end without giving a nod to Ryan Howard, however. The big Phillies slugger is known for his opposite field moonshots, and the numbers bear this out. Here's Howard's breakdown.

To Left: .701 (!!!)
To Center: .480
To Right: .327

Ryan Howard's slugging percentage on fly balls to left field is a staggering 1.138. That's not his OPS - that's his SLG. 71% of all of his balls in play to left field are fly balls, and 27 percent of those leave the yard. You may remember from yesterday that the league average HR/FB for a lefty to left field was 3%. Howard's HR/FB to left is nine times the league average.

We don't have the historical evidence to prove it, of course, but I'd wager that Ryan Howard may just be the greatest opposite field power hitter in the history of the game.

General Manager: Tony Reagins
Farm Director: Abe Flores
Scouting Director: Eddie Bane

FanGraphs' Top 10 Prospects:
(2009 Draft Picks/International Signees Not Included)

1. Hank Conger, C, Double-A
DOB: January 1988 Bats: B Throws: R
Signed: 2006 1st round - California HS
MLB ETA: Late-2010 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3

After failing to appear in more than 84 games in his first three pro seasons, Conger showed some durability in '09 and got into 124 contests. Overall, he hit .295/.369/.424 in 458 at-bats. His walk rate took a big jump last year when it rose from 4.4% in '08 to 10.5%. His strikeout rate dropped from 18.7% to 14.8%. Although his plate rates improved, Conger saw his power diminish significantly with an ISO drop from .214 to .129 but he was playing in a power-dampening park. A switch-hitter, Conger swings a slightly-more-potent bat against right-handed pitching with an OPS of .836, compared to his .763 rate against southpaws. Defensively, he's made strides behind the dish but he's an average-at-best defender, which should be OK considering his offensive potential.

2. Jordan Walden, RHP, Double-A
DOB: November 1987 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2006 12th round - Grayson County College
MLB ETA: Mid-2011 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 89-95 mph fastball, slider, change-up

Walden's 5.25 ERA in '09 was pretty ugly but he was hurt by a .377 BABIP and his FIP was just 3.77. Overall, he allowed 72 hits in 60.0 innings and made just 13 starts due to a forearm strain. The injury is worrisome (because it can lead to Tommy John surgery), but he appears healthy and ready to compete in 2010. He showed a pretty good strikeout rate in '09 at 8.55 K/9 but his control was modest at 4.35 BB/9. He had a lot of troubles against left-handed hitters and posted a walk rate of 7.83 BB/9 against them in a smaller sample size. The right-hander has top-of-the-order stuff if he can harness it.

3. Trevor Reckling, LHP, Double-A
DOB: May 1989 Bats: L Throws: L
Signed: 2007 8th round - New Jersey HS
MLB ETA: Late-2010 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 87-91 mph fastball, curveball, change-up

Reckling cannot begin to compete with Walden's pure stuff, but the southpaw is a better all-around pitcher even though his walk rate has risen each of the past few seasons, from 1.75 to 3.49 to 4.99. His strikeout rate took a bit of a dive in .09 but it wasn't hopeless at 7.05 K/9. Reckling does a pretty good job of inducing ground balls (47.9%), which helped him allow just four homers in double-A (135.1 innings). His 3.77 FIP (2.93 ERA) suggests that he received some help in allowing just 118 hits (.293 BABIP). Reckling projects as a solid No. 3 starter.

4. Pete Bourjos, OF, Double-A
DOB: March 1987 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2005 8th round - Arizona HS
MLB ETA: Late-2010 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3

Like a lot of the Angels' top prospects, Bourjos is more solid than flashy. The outfielder doesn't have much power (.142 ISO in '09) but he hits for a nice average (.281) and steals some bases (32 in 44 attempts at double-A). In fact, he has the potential to steal 40-50 bases in the Majors, if so motivated. Overall on the year, he hit .281/.354/.423 in 437 at-bats while playing part of the year with ligament tear in his wrist. His walk rate was good, but not great for a top-of-the-order hitter, at 9.7% and he struck out a bit much for his modest power results at 17.6%. Defensively, he is a plus outfielder and can easily handle center field.

5. Fabio Martinez, RHP, Rookie
DOB: October 1989 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2007 non-drafted international free agent (Dominican Republic)
MLB ETA: Late-2013 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 89-95 mph fastball, plus slider, change-up

The newest name on the club's top prospect watch, Martinez has a big arm but he has just one North American season under his belt so 2010 will be big in helping him secure his reputation. The right-hander struck out 102 batters in 67.2 rookie-ball innings in '09 but his control was off and he walked more than five batters per nine innings. His walk rate was just shy of 48% but he did a nice job of keeping the ball in the park and allowed just three homers on the season. Batters hit just .195 against him and the 20 year old should move up to low-A for 2010.

6. Trevor Bell, RHP, Majors
DOB: October 1986 Bats: L Throws: R
Signed: 2005 supplemental 1st round - California HS
MLB ETA: Now 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3
Repertoire: 88-92 mph fastball, curveball, slider, change-up

Trevor flew through double-A and triple-A in '09 but he got his, uh, bell rung in the Majors. The right-hander allowed a 5.26 FIP in 20.1 MLB innings and his walk rate rose to 4.87 BB/9 as he nibbled against big leaguers. He did receive any luck, either, and posted a BABIP of .461. Beginning the year in double-A, Bell allowed just 54 hits in 68.2 innings of work while posting a walk rate of 2.62 BB/9. He also allowed just one homer and his ground-ball rate for the season was just shy of 50% in the minors. At triple-A, his strikeout rate dropped from 6.68 in double-A to 4.79 K/9. Because he has average stuff, Bell projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter or a middle reliever.

7. Mark Trumbo, 1B, Double-A
DOB: January 1986 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2004 18th round - California HS
MLB ETA: Mid-2010 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3

The 24-year-old Trumbo is loaded with raw power (as witnessed by his 32 homers in '08) but he has yet to put it all together. The first baseman, who will reportedly see time in the outfield in 2010, hit .291/.333/.452 in 533 double-A at-bats. His walk rate has always been on the low side at it was 6.4% in '09. His strikeout rate dipped nicely, though, to 18.8%. After posting his first .200+ ISO rate in '08, his rate slipped to .161 in double-A while playing in a park that hurts power numbers. Even so, he still slugged 35 doubles. If Trumbo can add right field to his resume, it will significantly improve his value to the Angels.

8. Tyler Chatwood, RHP, Low-A
DOB: December 1989 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2008 2nd round - California HS
MLB ETA: Late-2012 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 88-93 mph fastball, curveball, change-up

After posting a walk rate of 8.53 in his pro debut (38.0 innings), Chatwood made some improvements to lower his rate to 5.11 BB/9 but he'll continue to work to harness his stuff in 2010. Despite his struggles finding the plate, the right-hander still posted a strikeout rate of 8.20 K/9 and he allowed just 99 hits in 116.1 innings of work. He also did a nice job of limiting the homer (0.23 HR/9) despite an average ground-ball rate. Chatwood has the potential to develop into a No. 2 or 3 starter, especially if he can find a little more success against left-handed hitters (1.62 WHIP).

9. Chris Pettit, OF, Majors
DOB: August 1984 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2006 19th round - Loyola Marymount University
MLB ETA: Mid-2010 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3

Pettit has always posted good numbers against southpaws in his career, but he absolutely creamed them in '09 to the tune of a 1.117 OPS in 112 at-bats. Overall, he hit .321/.383/.482 in 371 triple-A at-bats and even received his first taste of the Majors (10 games). The outfielder isn't a true center-fielder and doesn't possess the power for the corners (.162 ISO) so he's a bit of a tweener. As a result, he could end up in a platoon, or as a fourth outfielder. With a full-time commitment by the Angels, he could hit 10 homers with 15 steals.

10. Jon Bachanov, RHP, Rookie
DOB: January 1989 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2007 supplemental 1st round - Florida HS
MLB ETA: Mis-2013 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 89-95 mph fastball, plus slider, change-up

It took the '07 draft pick some time to get onto a mound, but he made up for lost time in '09 after converting full-time to the bullpen. The right-hander has a good fastball-slider combination and he posted a strikeout rate or 14.00 K/9 in rookie ball. Already 21, Bachnov should jump to low-A ball in 2010 and could move quickly if he continues to show good control. He has the potential to be the Angels' closer of the future but he's a long way off.

Up Next: The Los Angeles Dodgers

Playing around with the new splits yesterday Dave C. noted Joe Mauer's bizarre spray chart numbers. To right field Mauer hits ten grounders for every fly ball and Mauer's ISO and wOBA by direction in play resemble a RHB more than a LHB peaking in left (opposite field for Mauer) and smallest in right (pull field for Mauer).

Some commenters to Dave's article questioned how Mauer handled pitches to different parts of the plate, and whether that was responsible for this pattern. I thought these were very interesting questions. I plotted the average angle of his grounders and balls in the air based on the horizontal location of the pitch. I show the average lefty for comparison. Here -45 corresponds to the left-field line, 0 to second base and dead center, and 45 to the right-field line.

Not surprisingly all of the lines are increasing, the farther inside a pitch is the more it is pulled (greater angle meaning farther to right field). For LHBs grounders are, on average, pulled while balls in the air depend on the pitch location: inside pitches hit in the air go, on average, to right while outside pitches go to left. I have previously shown this with the HITf/x data and Matt Lentzer has a simple, but very cool, bat-ball collusion model that shows why this is the case. Anyway Mauer's ground balls are not all that different than the average lefty's, but his balls in the air are. No matter where the pitch is Mauer, on average, hits balls in the air to left field. Even on far-inside pitches the average fly ball Mauer hits will be to center-left. This is how he ends up with all his pulled hits as grounders.

This backs up Dave's suggested defensive alignment, "teams should consider employing two different shifts against Mauer; an outfield shift playing him as if he was a pull-heavy right-handed batter, and an infield shift treating him as a pull-heavy left-handed hitter."

How does this affect how well he does on those pitches? Here is Mauer's and the average LHB's ISO by horizontal pitch location.

The average lefty has the most power on pitches middle-in and on such pitches Mauer has about average power. But Mauer's power keeps increasing as pitches get father away from him and peaks middle-away. On pitches on the outer half of the plate Mauer has substantially more power than the average lefty. Since Mauer is going the other way with his fly balls anyway it makes sense that he would do best on pitches slightly away.

Taro, a commenter to Dave's post, noted maybe it would be best to pitch Mauer inside, where he has just average power. Have pitchers adapted against Mauer and thrown more inside pitches to him?

Doesn't seem so; in fact if anything pitchers pitch even farther away to Mauer than they do to the average lefty. It looks like faced with the already Herculean task of trying to get Mauer out pitchers are not doing themselves any favors with their approach. It will be interesting to see if that changes this coming season.

So, we have splits now. We've talked about how to use them and how not to use them. Today, I want to talk about why our splits matter. After all, Baseball-Reference has a great splits section, and has for a while. But, B-R is focused on providing factual data (which they do very well - this is no knock on the site that Sean has built), and as we've talked about before, sometimes what actually happened is not the best predictor of what is going to happen.

Let's use an example of why having split data for metrics like xFIP is important. If you go to Jered Weaver's page at Baseball Reference, you'll notice his career L/R split is pretty large. Righties have hit just .232/.283/.365 against him, but lefties have managed a significantly better .267/.327/.449 mark. There's a 126 point gap between his OPS against RHB and LHB.

Now, look at Weaver's splits page here.

Vs Left: 7.17 K/9, 3.01 BB/9, 36% GB%, 4.51 xFIP
Vs Right: 7.47 K/9, 2.30 BB/9, 28% GB%, 4.42 xFIP

That's a pretty different story. In terms of the numbers that measure skills, Weaver's not actually all that much better against RHBs than LHBs. The things that drive Weaver's large career platoon split? HR/FB and BABIP, two of the least predictive metrics out there.

For his career, lefties have turned 10.6% of their flyballs off of Weaver into home runs. Right-handers have just managed 5.6%, causing a big gap in home run rate. Also, lefties have tagged him for a .307 BABIP, compared to just .282 for righties.

Maybe more research into these issues will reveal that handedness effects these two metrics more than we currently know, but right now, Weaver's profile is not that of a guy who will continue to post big splits going forward. He's no Vicente Padilla. He's a little bit better against right-handed batters, but not much more than the norm.

You'd have a really hard time knowing that from his results. This is one of the great things that we'll be able to flush out with split data here on the site, and one of the reasons we're so excited to have them now.

Eric Gagne's run from 2002 to 2004 is historic. Over this three-year period, the goggled Canadian saved a staggering 152 games against only 6 blown saves, including a streak of 84 straight. Gagne was truly dominant, as he compiled FIPs of 1.80, 0.86, and 2.05, good for 3.3, 4.5, and 3.1 WAR, respectively, in 2002-2004. His 2003 season of 4.5 wins was over half a win better than the second best RP season, K-Rod's 2004.

Any pitcher who can sustain 12+ K/9s for three years is likely to have a pretty dominant run, and in order to do that the pitcher has to be able to shut down hitters on both sides of the plate. Indeed, Gagne pitched quite well against LHBs with the platoon advantage against him – he struck out nearly 8 more batters per 9 innings than he walked, and never allowed a FIP greater than 2.36 to lefties.

To truly tyrannize the league like Gagne did, however, it takes more than a slightly human 12:3 K:BB ratio against one side of the plate. Without truly destroying right handed battters, we would have seen more of the 2003-2005 run of Tom Gordon – 6 wins in 3 seasons. Nothing to sneeze at, but certainly not historic.

Right handed batters just could not beat Gagne. Of the 463 righties that faced Gagne, only 81 reached base. That's a .174 OBP. Gagne struck out 208 of these batters, 44.9% of them, good for a 14.8 K/9, to complement a sub-2 BB/9. Let the utter ridiculousness of those numbers sink in for a bit, as they're tame compared to what's next.

Ready? Now, let's restrict ourselves to 2003. Gagne faced 151 right handed batters that season en route to 55 saves. 84 of them struck out – just over 55%. Over 55% of hitters failed to make non-foul contact against Gagne. He only had to rely on his fielders to make plays against 45% of the batters he faced, whereas the average pitcher needs help on over 80% of hitters.

Only 26 batters reached base. Only one hit a home run, and only four others recorded extra base hits. With a nearly 12 K/BB ratio against righties and a microscopic HR rate, his FIP was -0.04. That's not a typo: -0.04. Of course, having a -0.04 ERA is mathematically impossible, but that number is truly representative of what little right handed hitters could accomplish against him at his best.

By dominating such a large population of the league, Gagne cemented his status as one of the best closers in the league. It's disappointing that his career was derailed as it was by injury, as his potential at the time was seemingly limitless. We can only speculate as to what could have been, but we are still left with a historic run, and one we should not forget.

Because you're a savvy, go-getting sort of reader, you very probably came across Craig Calcaterra's announcement about a fortnight ago that not only has the very famous Rob Neyer (a) formed a partnership with Diamond Mind Baseball, but that he (i.e. Neyer) (b) was/is arranging a league of elite baseballing writers to promote it.

First off, I want to say: If this move constitutes "selling out" on Neyer's part, it must be the best, most nerdly case of selling out ever (although, I concede that it depends on how much Wallace Shawn has received in the way of royalties for his My Dinner with Andre action figure). Allow me to announce it here and now: I am willing to lend my name, likeness -- whatever -- to almost any product, provided the Scrilla Factor (SF, for short) is sufficient.

Follow the money trail, indeed.

The original lineup for what's being called the Rob Neyer Media League has changed slightly -- Messrs Glanville and Posnanski have both recently, and somewhat bizarrely, broken their wrists while washing their pickup trucks -- but the idea is the same.

Viola (team name in parentheses):

*Craig Calcaterra, Famous Blogicator (Matewan Massacre)
*Gordon Edes, Boston-Area Newsman (Sons of Ring Lardner)
*Rany Jazayerli, Constantly Aghast Royals Fan (The Process)
*Bob Keisser, Resident, The City They Call Long Beach (The Write Stuff)
*Jonah Keri, Twin-Maker, etc. (Montreal McGaffigans)
*Barry Koren, Owner/Operator, Diamond Mind (A Team of Their Own)
*Richard Lally, Actual, Real-Live Bookwriter (Park Slope Muggles)
*The Man Himself, Sabermetric Evangelist (Wabash Mashers)
*Norm Wamer, Radio Giant (Hall of Wamers)
*Josh Wilker, Dream-Maker, Love-Taker (East Randolph Kerouacs)
*Charles Wolfson, A More Differenter Owner/Operator of Diamond Mind (Pittwater Dolphins)

Moreover, in what appears to have been a terrific accident, Neyer has invited yours truly to the awesome, nerdly dance party. (I won't dwell on it, but it appears as though Neyer's invite appeared in my inbox at the very moment his judgment was almost definitely being impaired by narcotics.)

The league has just finished its draft, so there's only so much to say about it at this point. Still, here are some observations from a week or so of noodling around on the site:

*If the message board comments at the site are correct, the salaries for each player are pretty carefully calculated to represent their (i.e. the players') true talent levels. Therefore, it's tough to go all Andrew Friedman and exploit market inefficiencies -- especially when one of the other owners in your league is, like, BFF with Friedman himself.

*That said, it's possible to manufacture inefficiencies with ballpark selection (and maybe some other ways I haven't realized). To that end, I've chosen Fenway Park ca 1914-1918 as my home field. As you can see by means of this long, nerdy list of park effects, Fenway has the lowest home run factor (22) of any available park.

That being the case, I'm constructing a team of pitchers with low HRA+s (that is, below average in home runs allowed relative to the league) and batters with low HR+s (that is, below average in home runs hit relative to the league). Obviously, that won't make for a great combination when we (The New Enthusiasts, that is) visit U.S. Cellular next Monday, but it's excellently suited for our home field.

*One player I've drafted, and who would undoubtedly command some attention for All-Time All-Joy Team consideration is Oliver "Ghost" Marcelle. Marcelle is one of the elite defensive third basemen in the Diamond Mind system (one of the few who qualifies as Excellent defensively). He was also one of the best -- and most interesting -- Negro League players ever, it seems.

But don't take my word for it! From Wikipedia:

In a strange incident in the late 1920s, Marcelle's teammate Frank Warfield reportedly bit Marcelle's nose off after the two got into a fight, when both men were playing in the Cuban Winter League. Bill Yancey, another teammate of Marcelle's, said, "What got [Marcelle] out of baseball, he and [teammate] Frank Warfield had a fight in Cuba [probably in the winter of 1927-28, over a dice game] and Warfield bit his nose off. He was a proud, handsome guy, you know, and then he used to wear a black patch across his nose and he got so he couldn't play baseball anymore."

*User jaxxr, whom I contacted through the site because he seemed to be a knowledgeable fellow, was super-thorough and -patient with me in explaining how much certain of the ratings (defensive range, outfield arm, running) translate into run value. Thank you very much, sir!

Anytime a new offensive statistic or function is added to the site, I tend to gravitate to Barry Bonds’ page to see what the outer bounds look like. The splits function is no different.

For instance, did you know that in his 268 high leverage plate appearances Bonds was walked intentionally 58 times. All told, Bonds walked in 42.2% of his total plate appearances. When he did hit, his ISO was a ridiculous .360. That’s good for a 1.354 OPS and a .524 wOBA. I don’t know if people will reference these numbers in 200 years after reading up on baseball history (folklore by then) and how Buck Showalter walked him with the bases loaded, but if they do, such a factoid should help to create understanding, if not acceptance.

Even the immortal saw the typical platoon advantage, which is to say that the left-handed Bonds was superior against righties. A .492 wOBA against them versus only a .480 wOBA against lefties suggests the Giants wasted a golden opportunity for a platoon. Bonds was more discriminatinh when it came to hitting the ball hard in certain directions. He hit the ball well to right (.524), center (.513), but not nearly as well to left (.394). Of course, a .394 wOBA is nearly .020 points higher than Evan Longoria’s career wOBA, but this is Bonds we’re talking about. Unacceptable, Barry.

Somehow he hit more home runs at home (one more, to be exact) than he did on the road. This came in light of nearly 40 fewer plate appearances at home, too, and while playing in one of the more homer-constricting parks in the National League. Oh, and this, well, this I just have to replicate in full These are Bonds’ 2002 month-by-month wOBA figures:

April: .563
May: .509
June: .536
July: .514
August: .607
September/October: .530

A .509 wOBA was a down month for him. Goodness gracious … goodness gracious.

Previously, I looked at the pitchers with the biggest increases in fastball speed this past season. The list of the top 20 was dominated by relief pitchers, which is not a huge surprise given how volatile relief pitchers tend to be and since they tend to throw harder, on average, than starters, those fluctuations can cause bigger shifts in absolute speed.

Looking at the list from the other end, however - that is, from the pitchers that lost the most speed on average on their fastballs - produces more starters. Whether because starters will get more innings even when injured, a usual byproduct of diminished fastball speed, or some other cause is open for speculation, but the results are definitely interesting.

As promised, a list of the biggest drops in fastball speed from 2009 to 2008. A minimum of 50 innings pitched in each season was needed to qualify.

Joba Chamberlain, -2.5
Ervin Santana, -2.1
Ross Ohlendorf, -2
Jared Burton, -1.7
Tim Lincecum, -1.7
Daniel Cabrera, -1.7
Manny Delcarmen, -1.6
Chan Ho Park, -1.6
Brian Fuentes, -1.6
Jeremy Sowers, -1.5
Lance Cormier, -1.4
Chris Young, -1.4
Grant Balfour, -1.3
Mariano Rivera, -1.3
Tim Redding, -1.3
Oliver Perez, -1.2
Aaron Cook, -1.2
Kevin Gregg, -1.2
Kyle McClellan, -1.1
Aaron Heilman, -1

Obviously, the decrease in fastball speed meant little to Tim Lincecum as he went on to repeat his NL Cy Young. Ervin Santana's recovery from injury in 2009 was far from 100% and how his fastball shows up in 2010 could have a major impact on the close AL West race. The Yankees might be starting to worry about the future ceiling of Joba Chamberlain and the Mets, well, the Mets should have been worried about Oliver Perez long before they inked him to that ridiculous extension.

The introduction of splits here on FanGraphs offers us a wealth of new information as my fellow writers have been expanding upon today. I do not have a post centered around splits today, but instead focused on an area that I continually find incredibly useful here somewhat related to splits: pitch-type breakdowns.

I love pitching and love dissecting its fluctuations from year to year. Tonight, I looked at changes in fastball velocity, both in terms of absolute change and in terms of a percentage over 2008 averages. Changes in average fastball speed do not tell an entire story by themselves, but I think they present several interesting points of fact.

I took a look at all pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched in both 2008 and 2009 and compiled lists of the biggest gains and losses in both fastball speed and fastball frequency. One thing that I found interesting was the seeming lack of relationship between the two. I would have expected pitchers that gained speed in their fastballs to be throwing them more often, but there was little to no correlation between changes in fastball speed and changes in how often pitchers threw fastballs.

Among pitchers with the biggest increases in average speed was Justin Masterson (+2.8 mph), Nick Masset (+2.6), a host of other relievers in the 2.0 range and a few starters mixed in as well, notably Justin Verlander (+2) and, surprisingly, Barry Zito at +1.6. Zito however, had a 5% reduction in percentage of fastballs thrown. Nick Masset was even more dramatic, throwing 15% fewer fastballs.

A top twenty list of increases in fastball speed follows and later tonight, a list of fastball speed drops.

Justin Masterson, 2.8
Nick Masset, 2.6
Matt Capps, 2.1
Ryan Madson, 2.1
Kevin Correia, 2
Justin Verlander, 2
Mark Lowe, 2
Huston Street, 1.7
Barry Zito, 1.6
Brad Penny, 1.6
Josh Johnson, 1.6
Jose Contreras, 1.5
Jon Lester, 1.5
Jonathan Broxton, 1.4
Wandy Rodriguez, 1.3
Luke Hochevar, 1.3
Miguel Batista, 1.3
Chris Volstad, 1.2
Bob Howry, 1.2
Ubaldo Jimenez, 1.2

The fall of the newspaper business is not news anymore. In nearly every city in the country, papers are scaling back coverage of everything, including baseball, in order to save costs. In some cities, such as Washington, the scaling back represents almost a complete removal of day-to-day coverage of the team. This is, simply, not good news for anyone. Basic capitalism demands competition to get the most efficient outcome, and even in a business where there isn't necessarily a tangible product being sold, quality declines when people leave the industry.

To combat this, Mark Zuckerman, a laid-off writer from the Washington Times, is raising money to go to Florida and cover the team on his own. I asked Mark to sum up why he's doing this, and this was his answer:

"Between the Times eliminating the entire sports section and leaving all of us unemployed, and the Post still searching for a new beat writer, there's been a real lack of quality Nats coverage outside of websites owned by MLB and the team. I'm hoping I can at least somewhat fill the void and provide the kind of comprehensive coverage fans have always counted on from newspapers."

He estimates that it's going to cost about $5,000 for him to spend six weeks in Viera, covering the Nationals on a daily basis. If you've ever planned a trip to Florida, you know that $5,000 doesn't go very far, so Mark is clearly cutting corners in order to get down there and give Nationals' fans another option in their coverage of the team. He's not making a profit on this.

I know there are a lot of worthy places for us to give our money right now, and the economy still sucks, but I highly encourage you to donate to Mark's cause, even if you are not a Washington Nationals fan. It's in the best interest of fans everywhere that the information stream about baseball news is not restricted solely to those who work directly for an organization. That Mark is willing to do this beat for such a pittance is an opportunity that we should not pass up.

As of this writing, he's almost halfway there. If you have some disposable income, consider giving to Mark's cause, and let's all make sure that the Nationals fans can enjoy spring training news - no matter how mundane it may be at times - just like the rest of us.