Comments on: Speed Score

By: Bodhizefa

Bodhizefa — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 14:08:19 +0000

I’d be curious to know if there was a good way to add bunt hits into the score. After watching Trout beat out what looked like a mediocre run-of-the-mill bunt last night, it got me wondering why bunts aren’t a part of the speed score calculation.

By: dan

dan — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:25:38 +0000

“a guy who gives up HRs but weak contact otherwise.”

Such a player doesn’t really exist. Well ok that might not be 100% true. Players who may exhibit this trait are likely the result of noise (random chance) than underlying skill. What you’re proposing would probably fluctuate even more wildly than BABIP.

By: Jeffrey Gross

Jeffrey Gross — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:15:44 +0000

*effect

By: Jeffrey Gross

Jeffrey Gross — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:15:25 +0000

Hey David,

Can we get ISO against on this site? I know that doubles and triples have more luck (due to factors like fielder positioning) involved in their affect on ERA and the likes, but a guy who doesnt give up a lot of HRs but does consistently give up doubles will have a better FIP than a guy who gives up HRs but weak contact otherwise.

I think it would be a great additional stat for the site!

By: pm

pm — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:54:11 +0000

I would also add an Infield hit and GIDP component to this. That would make it more accurate.

By: devil_fingers

devil_fingers — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:33:09 +0000

D’oh. I think I thought the original was the 5-component version… Have to look back and see what I used/got, etc.

Ah, you rightly leave out GIDP (which, I imagine, doesn’t make sense without opps.).

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:31:03 +0000

I think at least part of the difference between this year and last has to do with the small sample size so far since Stolen Base Percentage is given as a counting stat. Extrapolating Michael Bourn’s stolen base production over a 162 game schedule, for example, would boost his SBP score from 4.9 to 7.2 and his Speed Score from 7.8 to 8.4.

It’s small, I know, but if you add just a few tenths to everybody’s score I think you’ll find this year’s leaderboard looking a lot like last year’s, or you could give it a few months and it’ll probably catch up on its own.

By: Decatur

Decatur — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:02:07 +0000

Thanks, Dave. It makes perfect sense now.

By: David Appelman

David Appelman — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:52:14 +0000

I don’t disagree with any of the methodology comments and I’ll look into implementing what I can, but as to why certain things are the way they are, I didn’t create this stat, but in general I’ve found it useful as a speed gauge as is.

Can it be made better, sure, but it’ll do the trick in a pinch until I (or someone else) wants to put in the heavy lifting.

Dan, at least on average, speed score is almost exactly the same as it was last year. successful stolen bases are down about 1 percent to the lowest in 3 years. That could have something to do with it.

By: dan

dan — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:23:08 +0000

I also think it would make sense to adjust the triples % and runs scored % for ballpark and lineup. Some parks are tailored for triples and obviously some lineups score more than others. The difference probably wouldn’t be huge.

Scaling runs scored % to team runs per game would work, and using this article below (used by statcorner) would do the trick for triples.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/batted-balls-and-park-effects/