Research & Analysis - Page 132 - Sports Info Solutions

Visualizing the Range of MLB’s Best and Worst Outfielders

Baseball Info Solutions’ Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) metric measures a player’s total defensive contribution at a given position, compared to league average. The primary component, as outlined in The Fielding Bible, is the company’s Range & Positioning system, which rates each fielder’s success at converting batted balls into outs. Using…

Andrew Kyne 07.24.2015

BaseballMLB

Defensive Scouting Report: Brandon Crawford

Range/Positioning: Brandon Crawford has plus agility and quickness, which provides him with above average range for the shortstop position. He glides on the infield, making the difficult plays look easy. Entering 2015, he had 21 Range and Positioning Runs Saved over his career. Crawford also entered 2015 having made 28 more…

Mark Simon 07.08.2015

BaseballMLB

Flame Thrower Pitches Backwards?

In today’s baseball world there are a handful of guys on every team that throw absolute gas. In 2015, Nathan Eovaldi, has the highest average velocity for starting pitchers so far this year at 96.0 mph. However, Eovaldi’s past results have been rather inconsistent compared to other top flame throwers like Garrett Richards,…

Brandon Haney 07.01.2015

BaseballMLB

A Look Into the Unhittable

It was a two-start stretch in June of 1938 that has since lived in baseball infamy. A rookie for the Cincinnati Reds, Johnny Vander Meer, completed what many to this day still believe is an untouchable feat: back-to-back no hitters. An accomplishment that seems more fairy tale than reality, this…

Joe Firestone 07.01.2015

BaseballMLB

The Best Team Defense Improvements of 2015

On the heels of Kansas City’s improbable postseason run in 2014 and now successful start to 2015, baseball has been further exposed to the importance of team defense. With an electrifying outfield headlined by 2014 Fielding Bible Award winners Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon, the Royals have owned the American League’s best defense since the…

Andrew Kyne 06.02.2015

BaseballMLB

Analyzing Baseball’s Final Four

Now that the 2014 major league season is down to the final four, we can reflect on how these four teams made it to the League Championship Series and how they stack up for a World Series run. To do so, I’ll look at the hitting, pitching, and defense of…

Jeremy Kaufman 10.10.2014

BaseballMLB

Josh Hamilton: The Sultan of Swinging at the First Pitch

I was playing in a collegiate summer league at the time when I had a teammate that was in a slump. He said he was going to swing at the first pitch of his next at-bat no matter what. Shortly after proclaiming his odd strategy, he went to the plate,…

Tommy Kawamura 08.01.2014

BaseballMLB

Protecting the Runner: Facts, Observations, and Michael Choice.

It was Monday, April 21st, 2014. Michael Choice of the Texas Rangers started running when the pitcher lifted his leg. However, the catcher stood out of his crouch at about the same time and slid away from the right-handed-hitting Elvis Andrus on a called pitch out. As the ball crossed…

Tommy Kawamura 06.30.2014

BaseballMLB

Less Is More When Niese Is At Bat

The Mets finished the first month of the 2014 season with a winning record, despite just a .220 batting average as a team over their first 26 games, second worst in the National League. Needless to say, a lot of that early season success is due in large part to…

jp 05.05.2014

BaseballMLB

Shift Rates on the Rise

The usage of shifts in MLB has exploded this season. Teams are on pace to combine for more than 13,000 shifts on balls in play this year, up from just over 8,000 a year ago. Front offices and field staffs are shifting their defensive infield alignments as a result of…

Jeremy Kaufman 04.30.2014