I have plunked down the $ to upgrade our server, so the site will now have faster load times, less downtime, etc. I hope this leads to more visits, more comments, etc. Enjoy!
A better, faster High Heat Stats (server upgrade)
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Wins Above Replacement (WAR) vs. Wins Above Average (WAA)
First, an introduction: I’m Adam Darowski and I’m a longtime fan (and occasional commenter) of HHS and its previous incarnations. If you’ve seen my name before, it was likely related to the Hall of wWAR work that I’ve done. I also contribute to Beyond the Box Score and Baseball Past and Present. This is my first post at HighHeatStats, though I already have another project in the works. Hi, everyone!
When Baseball-Reference updated their Wins Above Replacement (WAR) framework, they included Wins Above Average (WAA). Personally, I found this to be a tremendous addition. I had recently started calculating and visualizing Wins Above Average based on Rally’s original WAR spreadsheets. While B-R rendered all of my underlying data useless, they at least had the decency to save me from redoing all my work.
As I’ve started using WAA, I’ve had people ask me:
- What’s the difference between WAR and WAA? and
- Why haven’t we just been using WAA all along?
While both metrics are similar, they do serve very different purposes.
Thursday game notes (light schedule)
Mets 3, D-backs 1: Matt Harvey was 4 for 15 with a HR at Buffalo, so I guess he’s not just kidding around up there. In his MLB debut, Harvey went 2 for 2 with a double and then a single, each with 2 strikes. On the hill, the touted righty (picked 7th just 2 years ago) fanned the first man he faced, and went on to set a new Mets debut record of 11 strikeouts, 3 more than the old mark by Tom Seaver (who else?) and matched by Bill Denehy just 3 days later.
Adam Dunn and triple-W games
In a recent post, John Autin identified that Jim Thome has the most career games with at least one of each of the TTO components – a walk, a strikeout and a home run. John called this phenomenon the “Thome Trifecta”, but I’m going to try a different moniker – triple-W, for a walk, a whiff and a whallop.
The leader in this category for 2012 is Adam Dunn of the White Sox, with 14 triple-W games so far this season, including 3 in a row against the Royals coming out of the All-Star break. After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at this phenomenon.
Hanley Ramirez – the most successful LA Dodger named Ramirez since Manny
H-Ram triples on the 1st pitch he saw as a Dodger / US PRESSWIRE
Hanley Ramirez got off to a nice start with his new team, but let’s take a bit of a look at his career arc. Continue reading
Wednesday game notes
@Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2 (12): Rafael Furcal had the game-winning hit, giving him 2 of their 4 walk-offs this year. But my focus is elsewhere.
- Hey, I remember this guy!
- Continue reading
Dodgers win(?) the Hanley regatta
ESPN reports that Miami has traded 3B Hanley Ramirez and RP Randy Choate to the Dodgers for SP Nathan Eovaldi and minor-league RP Scott McGough. No cash was reported in the transaction. Ramirez is signed through 2014, with $31.5 million coming in those next 2 years.
How the mighty are fallen, eh?
Fernando Rodney, in the zone
On Tuesday, Fernando Rodney converted his 13th straight Save chance and 28th in 30 tries, while running his scoreless streak to 15 innings. Awaaay back on April 6, after the Rays-Yankees opener, some cynic wrote this:
Tuesday tidbits
@Phillies 7, Brewers 6: It was 1-1 through 5. Four HRs later, Cliff Lee was staring at a 1-7 record. But one bullpen acid flashback after that, Lee was off the hook, and the Phils were going home with a happy sense of deja vu.
Ichiro and 2500 Hit Teammates
With Ichiro‘s arrival in the Bronx, he joins Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriquez as Yankees with 2500 or more career hits.
How unusal is that? I’ll take a look after the jump.