In your 5x5 strategy column, you say, "a stolen base is worth more than a home run." Stolen bases might be more rare, but their importance is not higher. Were Joe Player to steal a base, he would be adding one point to my stolen base totals. If he hit a homer, he would improve his average, get at least one RBI, score a run, and add a point to my home run total. Obviously, an act that helps four categories is better than something that helps only one.
***Peter: You raise a good point. I didn't mean to downplay home runs. Instead, I was making it clear that 35 home runs are not as valuable as 35 stolen bases. Using last year's averages for the 30 major league teams, when Joe Player steals a base, he gets one of 103 steals. When John Player hits a bases-empty homer, he raises his team's average .00009, scores one of his team's 773 runs, one of its 738 RBIs and one of its 182 homers. As I said earlier, drafting a team of speedsters doesn't make much sense, but why not grab a 40-steal guy who can single-handedly jack you up five roto points? Besides, few basestealers are one-category guys anyway. Most are power-speed threats (30-30 guys) or score well in batting average, steals and runs.
There I was, stumbling watery-eyed through Minneapolis' whipping sub-zero winds. I'd lost feeling in my lower extremities. Frosted saliva dotted my cheeks as I gasped for air.
But somehow it didn't matter -- I was going to watch baseball. I recently caught the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Metrodome and quickly remembered what we all love about baseball.
Soon Jackie Robinson proved himself worthy of playing for the Dodgers. He had to adjust to some new trials and always remember to not show emotion. Jackie had to learn play first base instead of short stop because that was the teams strong point in Peewee Reese. He also could not react to anything. Teammates, other players, and fans will greatly test him, but he must be strong.
The game of baseball has changed ever since Babe Ruth has joined the league. He has changed the game with the amount of power he brings to the plate. Right now with the Yankees, he has showed how amazing he is and has helped make the Yankees popular by winning a few World Series and breaking many homerun records. For Babe to come into the league, it took a little help to get noticed.
As in typical labor markets, employees are valued by the marginal revenue of production they add to their firm, or in the case of professional sports, their team. Determining player’s MRP becomes an easier process than in the labor markets of other industries due to the availability of statistics of player’s and their contribution to their team’s success. The difficulty of this process lies in the determination of how revenues for a team are produced. As previously mentioned Paul DePodesta, an analyst from the Oakland Athletics was on the foreground of this type of analysis in the MLB. His discovery of the correlation of winning percentage and team revenues was just the starting point. His methodology of his model building was briefly touched on before, but it started with running regression analysis on a series of different typical baseball statistics, and continued with his finding of On Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage being the stats that correlated closest with winning percentage, and the implementation of the AVM systems models outputting player’s expected run values. MLB’s regression analysis on player’s MRP to a team is some of the most sophisticated in professional sports, with other leagues and teams starting to catch on and attempting to create their own models of MRP for their respective leagues.
The game of baseball can be divided into three broad categories: hitting, pitching, and defense. No other facet of the game gets as much attention as hitting. For example, every year the MLB puts on a home run derby. No other part of the game draws as much attention. The traditional statistic that measure hitting ability is batting average (BA or AVG). To find a players batting averag...
batting average and gets a hit almost every time he goes up to the plate. He is an all-star
Every team requires one, and some say it is the hardest position on the field to play. The hind-catcher is without a doubt a necessity to every ball team’s success. This is the position who can take command of the playing field. If played well, one can have a major impact on how smoothly a team plays together and affect the outcome of the game. There are many requirements for the person who plays the role of the catcher: something as simple as being prepared to play the positon, to having the responsibility of making sure the team has a good relationship with each other. However, the most obvious requirement is the athletic ability required and being physically able to play the position. The position of catcher is not an easy position to play, but is essential to the game of baseball.
Derek Jeter, one of the greatest shortstops of all time, once said, “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do- and I believe that” (“Jeter”). Sometime later the same man also said, “Your image isn’t your character. Character is what you are as a person” (“Jeter”). Jeter was obviously a guy that believed in hard work all the time, but also realized that he had to be great off the field as well. There have been some spectacular shortstops in the history of baseball, but none greater than the likes of Barry Larkin, Derek Jeter, and Cal Ripken, Jr. They all changed the game in one way or another, but every single one of them had great leadership abilities, a knack for coming
Attention Getter: “Take me out to the ball game” in the united states Baseball has become America's favorite pastime.
Baseball has always been America’s natural past time. Many fans love watching baseball but do not realize how hard it is to prepare for a season. Most fans think the players just show up on the first day. I think this belief is completely false. I feel that preparing for a baseball season requires much preparation. The preparation I use includes working on my swing, working out, and studying other people’s ideas on hitting. These steps are necessary for me to have a successful season. These steps have proven to be a valuable aid in helping me to prepare for the season. I believe these steps are the basic steps to becoming a great baseball player.
The first player I am going to tell you about is considered the best hitting catcher of all time. He has three batting titles and has been to six All-Star games. His name is Joe Mauer. Mauer made his MLB debut for the Twins in 2003, but only played in three games because of a leg injury. His first really good season was in 2006, when he hit .347 with a .429 OBP and hit 13 home runs with 84 RBIs. This was his first ever batting title. In 2007, he was injured for a couple months of the season, while his average dipped to .293. He 2008, he rebounded with a .328 batting average with a .413 OBP with nine home runs and 85 RBIs. In 2009, Mauer had an incredible year. He started the year on the disabled list where he was all of April. His first game back was on May 1, and on his first swing, he hit a home run. He ended up 28 home runs and 96 RBIs that year along with an incredible .365 batting average and an amazing .444 OBP. He put up similar numbers in 2010 except that his homers decreased a little bit. In 2011 he was hurt for most of the year, which meant that his numbers went way down, but in 2012 he was back on track. In 2013, he was also hurt quite a bit, but put up quality numbers....
Finally, the ballgame begins, as the Red Sox take field led by the rookie pitcher Jon Lester, who is making his major league debut. Lester is now one my favorite Red Sox players because of this moment. The Red Sox ended up losing the game that day, but for me even though the Red Sox lost, I felt like I was in Heaven. I cherish this moment because it was my first Red Sox game at Fenway. I only get go to one Red Sox game a year if we can afford it. I know to cherish this moment, because to me this day is like Christmas, it only happens once a year. I love going to Red Sox games with Phil because it is time I am spend alone with him. I hope that I can go this year, to go back my baseball heaven, Fenway. To me this experience is important, because it taught me to cherish the moments, and not have regrets.
The process of becoming a great baseball player takes talent, hard work, and a ton of practice. Baseball, being the second hardest sport in the world is a hard sport to stay discipline at. As a player, he must make sure he works at all the drills everyday, boring or not. Also, he must have the mental mind set that he definitely wants to make it to the big leagues, if he doesn’t, then its ...
There are three fundamental skills of baseball: hitting, catching, and throwing. Coach Cook asked me to talk to all of you, because he thinks you all do not want to practice. To succeed in baseball, you must practice because repetition is the key. Whenever one repeats an action it becomes customary and easy for one to perform a task.
captive by a sheath of frost, as were the glacial branches that scraped at my windows, begging to get in. It is indeed the coldest year I can remember, with winds like barbs that caught and pulled at my skin. People ceaselessly searched for warmth, but my family found that this year, the warmth was searching for us.