Customizable Heat Maps!

by David Appelman - January 31, 2011

At FanGraphs we’re big fans of the heat map. And now customizable heat maps are now available in the pitchf/x sections for all pitchers. Much thanks to Dave Allen for helping me out!

The thing about heat maps is that one size does not always fit all. Depending on the density of pitches and how many pitches are thrown, it’s not always a clear cut case how to display the data. Sometimes you want the points bigger, sometimes you want the “intensity” of each point to be more and sometimes you really want a different color scheme. For instance here’s the same chart, but with the settings changed.

And here is a third chart, with the settings changed one more time, where the points are made smaller but very intense in monochrome.

There’s a lot to play around with here and a lot of options to try and get the best picture possible.

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David Appelman is the creator of FanGraphs.

27 Responses to “Customizable Heat Maps!”

1. NM says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:41 am

   Win.
   

   +7

   Reply
2. ledavidisrael says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:41 am

   Knees shake.
   Palms sweat.
   Passes out.
   

   

   Reply
3. Telo says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:42 am

   Um, yes. Now this is awesome.
   

   

   Reply
4. Sandy Kazmir says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:44 am

   OH. MY. GOD! Thank you
   

   

   Reply
5. New York Necks says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:44 am

   DAYUM.

   The second one is incredible.
   

   

   Reply
6. DSMok1 says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:45 am

   Uh.

   Wow.
   

   

   Reply
7. Chadam says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:47 am

   Wow, you guys are awesome! Keep up the great work!
   

   

   Reply
8. fenwik says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:48 am

   Wow. Just: wow.
   

   

   Reply
9. EnglishMariner says:

   January 31, 2011 at 10:52 am

   Ahhhh, this is simply amazing. Once upon a time I would long for a blogger to analyse my favourite pitcher using snazzy pitch f/x heat maps. And now I can do it myself?! Bravo!
   

   

   Reply
10. filihok says:

    January 31, 2011 at 11:00 am

    http://www.shallowcenter.com/photos/uncategorized/oface.jpg
    

    

    Reply
    • Not David says:

      January 31, 2011 at 2:33 pm

      Perfect.
      

      

      Reply
11. studes says:

    January 31, 2011 at 11:14 am

    This is tremendous, but you guys have really got to add some labels, definitions and legends, and not use so many acronyms. I don’t know what these heat maps are saying.
    

    

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    • David Appelman says:

      January 31, 2011 at 1:50 pm

      Yep, I am terrible at this. Anyway, this is just a pitch distribution. It’s where the ball was thrown plotted and the heatmapped and that’s about it. It’s from the batters point of view.
      

      

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12. maqman says:

    January 31, 2011 at 11:51 am

    Very impressive, well done!
    

    

    Reply
13. brhas says:

    January 31, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    How is this site still free? Incredible.
    

    

    Reply
14. Thomas says:

    January 31, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    Cool! Definitely gonna start using this.
    

    

    Reply
15. Albert Lyu says:

    January 31, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Will enjoy using this feature for quick lookups, but would like to refer readers to this article (among others) in case you’re interested in drawing conclusions from pfx data: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-internet-cried-a-little-when-you-wrote-that-on-it/
    

    

    Reply
16. gradygradychase says:

    January 31, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    This is tremendous, but most of reader can use it correctly?
    

    

    Reply
17. MauerPower says:

    January 31, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    This is cool. I’m just starting to understand pitch fx so what do these maps mean?
    

    

    Reply
18. BrianP says:

    January 31, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    Wow. I don’t comment here at all, but the awesomeness of this new tool compelled my to express my amazement and thanks.
    

    

    Reply
19. Nevin says:

    January 31, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    Boss
    

    

    Reply
20. The Nicker says:

    January 31, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    I have such a huge boner for this.

    Check out King Felix’s 4-seamer to lefties:

    http://www.fangraphs.com/heatmap.aspx?playerid=4772&position=P&pitch=FA&size=8&inty=40&pal=2

    Or perhaps you were wondering why Lester was such a boss with his cutter this year:

    http://www.fangraphs.com/heatmap.aspx?playerid=4930&position=P&pitch=FC&size=8&inty=40&pal=2
    

    

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21. Not David says:

    January 31, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    It looks like there’s some data missing on Liriano’s 2010 fastball map?

    http://www.fangraphs.com/heatmap.aspx?playerid=3201&position=P&pitch=FA&size=14&inty=40&pal=2
    

    

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    • David Appelman says:

      January 31, 2011 at 4:15 pm

      They have him throwing almost all sliders, two-seamers, and changups now.

      http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=3201&position=P
      

      

      Reply
22. phoenix2042 says:

    January 31, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    this site is the best! how is it still free? (side note: please don’t charge!)
    

    

    Reply
23. shibboleth says:

    February 1, 2011 at 10:44 am

    Heat maps rock my world. FanGraphs rocks my world.
    

    

    Reply
24. buy caps says:

    March 1, 2012 at 4:42 am

    They have him throwing almost all sliders, two-seamers, and changups now.
    I have such a huge boner for this.
    

    

    Reply