Statistics Papers

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

7-2010

Publication Source

Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports

Volume

6

Issue

3

DOI

10.2202/1559-0410.1237

Abstract

A plethora of statistics have been proposed to measure the effectiveness of pitchers in Major League Baseball. While many of these are quite traditional (e.g., ERA, wins), some have gained currency only recently (e.g., WHIP, K/BB). Some of these metrics may have predictive power, but it is unclear which are the most reliable or consistent. We address this question by constructing a Bayesian random effects model that incorporates a point mass mixture and fitting it to data on twenty metrics spanning approximately 2,500 players and 35 years. Our model identifies FIP, HR/9, ERA, and BB/9 as the highest signal metrics for starters and GB%, FB%, and K/9 as the highest signal metrics for relievers. In general, the metrics identified by our model are independent of team defense. Our procedure also provides a relative ranking of metrics separately by starters and relievers and shows that these rankings differ quite substantially between them. Our methodology is compared to a Lasso-based procedure and is internally validated by detailed case studies.

Copyright/Permission Statement

The final publication is available at www.degruyter.com.

Keywords

baseball, Bayesian models, entropy, mixture models, random effects

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Date Posted: 27 November 2017

This document has been peer reviewed.