Sabermiketrics

 Let’s look at the Statcast database again, this time examining 3-0 pitches. In the original article that I wrote introducing the database, I used the outcomes of 3-0 pitches as an example query. 3-0 pitches have always been a big deal in baseball. Batters commonly take a pitch on 3-0 (in fact 89% of the time). The thinking is that if a pitcher’s control is shaky enough to fall behind 3-0, he just might throw ball four, so the batter should make him prove that he can throw a strike. And if it ends up being a strike, you still have a hitter-friendly 3-1 count. I’ve noticed in recent years that it felt like batters were swinging on 3-0 more often. I remember Aaron Judge giving a quote (unfortunately I can’t find it) about how when he hits, he’s just looking to hit the best pitch of the at-bat, which is often on the 3-0 count. I will admit though that I’m surprised to see batters are still taking 3-0 pitches at a 89% rate. I would have guessed much lower, but for all I know this c...

 With my Statcast database in Oracle nice and handy, let’s have some more fun and look at strike zone data. Strike zone data in Statcast is measured by two variables, plate_x and plate_z, which are like respective x and y coordinates of an axis. The strike zone is the width of home plate, which is 17 inches, although the rule book says specifically part of the baseball has to hit the strike zone for it to be a strike, so truthfully the strike zone is slightly wider than 17 inches. A baseball is three inches in diameter, so really the strike zone width is a number slightly smaller than 23 inches. Statcast measures plate_x and plate_z in feet, not inches. The middle of the strike zone width is a plate_x of 0 (like an axis origin of (0,0)), with pitches to the left being a negative value of plate_x and pitches to the right being a positive value of plate_x. For example, the strike zone is 17 inches wide (1.417 feet), so the left edge has a value of -0.7083 and the right edge has a ...