The Hardball Times

April 05, 2010

Data analysis - the SQL

David Laurila is probably my favorite baseball interviewer. If you've been around me for very long, you've probably heard me say that. He posted another good interview with Buck Showalter yesterday at Baseball Prospectus. It's worth reading the whole interview, but Showalter's response to the first question got me thinking. Or rather, it touched a nerve of something I've been thinking about ever since this post by Patriot.

David Laurila: You've been around the game for a long time. How much has the use of data evolved over the years?

Buck Showalter: Without trying to step on any toes, this isn't something new. I remember charting hitters in the Florida State League in 1984, putting a spray chart out with a red stencil. You had a humpback for a fly ball, a straight line for a line drive, you had a dotted line for a ground ball. There was where they hit it, what kind of pitch was it, what the count was…this was 1984. This is not some brand-new approach. Back then, I didn't hear a lot about it, but other people were doing it, I'm sure. Eye in the sky, scouting…I don't want to burst anybody's bubble, but this isn't something new in baseball, OK? But now it's being done with a computer, instead of by hand, and there are a lot more numbers and what have you.

DL: Essentially, you were using a lot of data nearly three decades ago?

BS: I was. We were looking at hitter-pitcher match-ups way back when. I was keeping them in the minor leagues and when I first started managing the Yankees you had matchups against guys and where they hit the ball.

Is the fundamental difference between the Pete Palmer-Bill James generation of saberists and the current generation the understanding of the power of databases and facility with them? Because I can't imagine trying to answer many of the questions I want to answer by poring through hand-charted data, and I find myself much quicker to consider alternative and difficult data sources than the average saberist today.

I'm not criticizing Showalter's understanding of the game, nor was he criticizing saberists. But the relational database...it's really something, isn't it?
Posted by: Mike Fast

March 21, 2010

C. Trent Rosecrans interviews Bill James

Everyone loves a new Bill James interview, and I am no exception. C. Trent Rosecrans has posted an two-part interview as part of Bill James making the Cactus League circuit promoting his new book.

Here's one part that caught my eye. I'm in complete agreement.

CTR: There's going to be a new system with cameras and computers that is supposed to revolutionize our understanding of defense, what kind of effect do you see that having?

BJ: I think the new system with cameras is that for several years it will create so much information that nobody will have any idea what to do with it. It's the first generation, I started this stuff I do before anyone had computers, I was literally adding stuff up in notebooks. When we all got computers it created so much information that for 10 years we were just bewildered by it and nobody had any idea what to do with it. The Pitch F/X stuff has done the same thing in the last five, six years, it's created so much data that nobody's been able to analyze it yet, in my view, and make much of it. I think the same thing will happen. Eventually something good will come of it, but it will take a while.

Posted by: Mike Fast

April 29, 2008

Dan Levitt Interview

Rich Lederer interviews Dan Levitt, author of the new book Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

April 27, 2008

Davey Johnson speaks

Here's an interview with one of my baseball favorites, Davey Johnson. When asked who would be his number one pick for a new team, Davey said "Henry Aaron." Also, some good thoughts about Dwight Gooden and steroids.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

April 23, 2008

Pat Jordan and Alex Belth

Rich Lederer has posted a great "roundtable discussion" with Pat Jordan and Alex Belth. Alex compiled a "best of..." book of Jordan's writing, and it's a sensational read. Pat Jordan is a terrific writer in general, and an even better sports writer. You really should buy this book. It's so good, I can say that even though I don't know you. Yeah, that good.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

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