Today's Fun Fact
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 12, 2010 4:03 PM PST
in Seattle Mariners Stats
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PrintBeanballs can be a touchy subject. Though accidents will happen and beanings are a natural part of the game, each and every one invariably stirs the emotions, provoking questions of intent. Whenever a player gets drilled, there will be fans and teammates who believe the pitcher did it on purpose to send a message.
Intent, of course, can never be proven, which is a big part of what makes this so tricky. It is only through retrospection that we can observe things like Pedro ranking #6 all-time in WHIP and #15 in HBP and begin to make real conclusions. It is with that in mind that I present to you the following split:
Alex Rodriguez PA per HBP, 1995-2000: 115
Alex Rodriguez PA per HBP, 2001-present: 50
I don't think many pitchers were big fans of the Alex Rodriguez contract.
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by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 12, 2010 4:14 PM PST up reply actions
Might this also correlate...
With his position in the batting order? Seems to me earlier in his career he hit higher in the order (pitchers emphasis on keeping him off base), while later in his career as he got slower on the base-paths he’s been hit in the middle of the order (pitchers emphasis on keeping him from getting an XBH and driving in runs)
However, I’ve never thrown a professional pitch, and my desire to bean him rose after 2000 as well.
Could it also correlate to a change in batting stance?
Edging up on the plate a bit, putting on the elbow pad, etc? In a highly unscientific search I just conducted on google images, it looks like he didn’t use the elbow pad as a Mariner. Nor was he as hefty a target, girthwise.
Could easily have something to do with it
This, of course, is not a scientific examination.
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 12, 2010 6:19 PM PST up reply actions
Anyone know when he did start where the big elbow pad?
Would definitely give him less incentive to get out of the way.
I've been sitting here reading that wrong for about 5 minutes.
To sum up, pitchers hit Rodriguez with pitches twice as frequently post-Texas contract when compared to when he was making next to nothing in Seattle.
Got it.
Batted .393/.614/.464 for 2009 Diablos, #5 in OBP for PSSBL Rocky Division.
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Jan 12, 2010 4:36 PM PST reply actions
Yup, did that the first couple of takes as well
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2010 5:22 PM PST up reply actions
PA/HBP isn't a very intuitive stat.
I’d think HBP/600 PA or something would cause less confusion, but eh, it’s all good.
by Terminator X on Jan 12, 2010 5:53 PM PST up reply actions
It really did take me a while to figure out the smaller number meant fewer HBP
And I’m only admitting it because it appears to be commonplace.
Just a thought...
but doesn’t that directly corrspond to when he started taking steroids?
Word could have traveled in the locker-rooms that he was cheating the pitchers and have had nothing to do with the contract.
I highly doubt that has much to do with it.
Tons of guys were known users and even without looking it up I doubt their HBP numbers went up.
by Kirk on Jan 12, 2010 5:23 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
It may not correlate with steroids, but it's interesting (to me) that 6 of the top 8 years for HBP rate
occurred between 2001-2007. 2008 just missed out.
The rates didn’t double or anything, but the period is basically the high water mark for HBPs in baseball history.
(In the national league, it’s edged out by the 1890s, but that shouldn’t count).
Sometimes I wonder if the aggressive new approach by MLB hasn't backfired a bit.
You get the first one for free, if I was going up against a pitcher that liked to come inside a lot, strategy wise I’d try to get warnings for both benches on the first pitch I threw. That’s a bit extreme, but on a serious note, there have been a few series where I’ve heard the announcers speculating about the bean balls and the warnings.
Per game or total?
simply more games played in the 2001-2007 years than ever before
by seattlebruin on Jan 12, 2010 5:46 PM PST up reply actions
A good article on this for anyone interested:
by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 12, 2010 6:48 PM PST up reply actions
That puts a whole different light on it
Based on the data presented there, you would’ve expected ARod to get more HBP in the later period simply because it was later, and all players were getting HBP a lot more. That overall trend probably swamps any particular animosity pitchers may have had towards him in particular.
by wandergeist on Jan 13, 2010 11:05 AM PST up reply actions
Players will try to gain any edge they can
and wearing gigantic pads and umpires not calling batters for not even flinching at inside pitchers is an edge that hitters have definitely taken advantage of. So much so that pitching inside, if you believe the pundits, is now so much less common that it has far more drastically changed the state of the game than steroids has.
by Matthew on Jan 12, 2010 11:02 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
I wish those gigantice elbow pads would get banned.
Or at least have the umpires start calling strikes (or is it an out?) if the batter doesn’t try to move. I understand trying to keep players from being injured. It just seems like an unfair advantage to be able to just get hit by a pitch without moving and get a free base.
Or just move the batters box back
Like Bill James suggested: one inch every four years for the next 16 years, so that the batter is eventually four inches further off the plate. See the Hardball Times link Jeff included above.
by wandergeist on Jan 13, 2010 11:03 AM PST up reply actions
We just found out about the steriod last year
Do you really think the media wouldn’t have gotten hold of it had some players known almost a decade earlier?
I think it is positively correlated with ARod turning into a perceived jerk
by Bohawk on Jan 12, 2010 5:40 PM PST via mobile reply actions
This is why I like visiting here.
Important statistics like this one are analyzed daily, along with treatises on ballpark shape and, um, beer.
And the comments are generally hilarious.
24 is clearly the most perfect of numbers.
I wouldn't call this an important statistic really.
by Kirk on Jan 12, 2010 7:19 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I wouldn't call your humor detector functional, really, either.
Though I suppose you could think the treatises on beer are, in fact, important.
In all my years of playing, I think I've only been hit twice
Once in the foot and once in the head. The head one was deserving though as I came to bat with a wood bat during a high school game instead of aluminum. The pitcher didn’t like that much, saw it as an insult
I don't care how well he does for the M's...FUCK ENDY CHAVEZ
So
basically you’re corroborating the widespread belief in Seattle that A-Rod became a bitch once he left Seattle and started doing things like leaning into pitches? Sweet, now I have stats to back it up.
FUCK THE ANGELS!
You should probably
Also look at the rate for M’s batters as a whole in the two timeframes and compare it to Rangers batters in the same timeframes. If, you know, you were being serious and rigorous and whatnot.
I always thought there was a feeling that A-Rod was soft
That after he got brushed back by Clemens in the 2000 ALCS, pitchers thought they could intimidate him by coming up and in on him. Obviously, some of those brushback pitches are gonna hit him. However, I could be making this up.
I'd rather know a little about a lot than a lot about a little
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