Just some quick notes on MLB seasonal averages:

• Run scoring is up slightly from last year (4.33 R per game, from 4.28), but is still the 2nd-lowest value since 1992.
• Strikeouts have reached another all-time high, which has been true for 5 years running. So far in 2012 they stand at 7.5 per game, up a whopping 5% from the record rate last year of 7.1.
• Meanwhile walks are down to 3.06 per game, the lowest value since 1968!
• As you might imagine, the 2.43 K/BB ratio is astronomically high. That’s up nearly 6% from last year’s ratio, which itself was an all-time record.
• Hits per game are at 8.65 per game, the lowest value since 1989.
• Attendance stands at 31,381 per game, the highest since 2008 and a pinch higher than pre-strike level of 31,256 in 1994.
• Intentional walks are down to just 0.21 per game. That’s the lowest level in recorded history, which goes back only to 1955. I presume as run-scoring goes down, managers are increasingly reluctant to put more runners on base. Sabermetrics has come a long way in the last 20 years to show just how much the chances of scoring increase when any batter is walked.
• Interestingly, sacrifice hits have also dropped way down, to just 0.30 per game. That’s also the lowest level since they’ve been recorded, which is back to 1954. Managers have also learned that giving up an out in exchange for a base advance is worth it far less than thought for most of the 20th century.

In order to accumulate a large negative number in Wins Above Replacement, a player cannot be merely bad. After all, most players who perform at less than replacement level for any extended period of time get, well, replaced.  So to pile up a substantial negative number a guy has to be both performing poorly and getting playing time anyway.

That might be because his team believes, for good reason or not, that he will turn it around.  Or his team believes that he is more valuable (for tangible or intangible reasons) than the WAR numbers suggest.  Or there are sentimental or financial reasons to keep the player playing independent of performance.  Or the team simply has no current better alternative, because the organization doesn’t happen to have access to a replacement level player at the position required.

The current Least Valuable Player in the majors for 2012 — the non-pitcher with the most negative b-ref WAR — is Jeff Francoeur, who continues to be Kansas City’s everyday starting rightfielder despite an OPS for the season of .643 (for a starting corner outfielder!) and a 2012 WAR of -2.9.  Francoeur has long been a favorite target for statistically-oriented fans and observers.  He is both a charming fellow and capable of hot streaks that lead teams to believe that he can be successful.  But in the long run Jeff just can’t ever seem to overcome his poor strike zone judgment. Twenty-five more years of “Least Valuable Players” after the click-through.   Continue reading →

All of these players were active in the 1960s or 1970s. All were journeymen, and all played for at least three franchises.

Besides the above, what is the more specific common thread that unites these players?

Congratulations to yippeeyappee! He identified (in just 28 minutes) that these players played for a 1960s or 1970s expansion franchise in its inaugural season, and are natives of that team’s state/province. Where there were multiple such players, these are the ones who played the most games in that season.

No players on the 1969 Royals or 1977 Blue Jays matched these criteria.

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!

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.

Continue reading →

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.

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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.

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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 →

@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!
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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?

Continue reading →