An Unusual Stat

With the football season winding down and the only sport on TV yesterday being NBA basketball, I've been reading a lot about another sport, baseball, lately. The season's not exactly around the corner, but it tells you a little bit about how much I like baseball when I'd rather discuss IT, than two current sports.

My twin brother gets lost in the off-season rumors of acquisitions and speculation about who the Twins might sign. Many baseball fans do. I personally don't care who we might get until we actually get them. I report the rumors to make him happy. Anything else is just fantasy league play. What I like about off-season baseball is the data sheets. I'm a stat freak. I'm always looking for articles on the Bill James Handbook on sabermetrics and trying to find interesting stats on current Twins in those articles.

I came across a really good one yesterday.

According to the leader boards in the 2014 Bill James Handbook:

No qualifying hitter in either league (minimum of 502 plate appearances) swung at the first pitch less often than Joe Mauer, 6.8 percent. I was surprised that Mauer took a hack at that many first pitches. We KNOW Mauer doesn't swing at the first pitch. What caught my eye is who was NUMBER TWO on the list.

It was another Twin! Of ALL the players in baseball, the Twins have the TWO guys who swing at the first pitch the least. Now looking at that stat more closely, you discover that players who don't swing at the first pitch are usually pretty good hitters. Guys like Mauer, Mike Trout, Dustin Pedroia, and Shane Victorino are all in the top 10 in that category. BUT, and this important, that doesn't mean that guys who swing at the first pitch are bad hitters. Miguel Cabrerra and Chris Davis, perennial MVP candidates are on the top 10 list of players who swing at the first pitch.

The main advantage of players who take pitches, statistically speaking, is that if you have a team that consistently does that, you make opposing pitchers work harder. A 13 or 14 pitch inning will takes it toll on a pitcher a lot faster than 1-2-3 innings on 6 pitches. At least that's the argument. Your team is also more likely to get more walks if the batters take more first pitches. More base runners equals more runs in the long run. AND the ONE stat in baseball that determines winners more than any other is that teams that score more runs in the course of a season will win more games.

Now that you've had time to think about who is number two on the list, I suppose it's time I reveal his name. At 8.6 percent of the time, it's Brian Dozier.