SFR in the Infield - AL West

Last but not least, the AL West infielders in SFR. Mark Ellis was the overall leader for 2007 at +27 runs

                                                    Ex
Name                   Team      POS      Balls Runners Runners     SFR
John Lackey            ANA        1          25       2       1     0.8
Kelvim Escobar         ANA        1          18       2       1     0.6
Jered Weaver           ANA        1          20       2       2     0.2
Jeff Mathis            ANA        2          21       1       0     1.1
Casey Kotchman         ANA        3         254      36      28     6.8
Kendry Morales         ANA        3          30       4       4     0.2
Robb Quinlan           ANA        3          59       8       9    -0.8
Erick Aybar            ANA        4         142      34      28     4.4
Howie Kendrick         ANA        4         364      91      88     2.0
Chone Figgins          ANA        4          26       7       8    -0.9
Maicer Izturis         ANA        4         134      35      37    -2.1
Maicer Izturis         ANA        5         127      28      25     2.4
Brandon Wood           ANA        5          31       5       6    -0.4
Robb Quinlan           ANA        5          15       3       4    -0.9
Chone Figgins          ANA        5         265      59      64    -4.6
Erick Aybar            ANA        6          45      12      14    -0.3
Orlando Cabrera        ANA        6         644     176     180    -3.2
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Joe Blanton            OAK        1          28       3       0     2.1
Dan Haren              OAK        1          19       2       1     0.8
Chad Gaudin            OAK        1          23       2       2     0.0
Joe Kennedy            OAK        1          23       3       4    -0.6
Jay Marshall           OAK        1          19       2       3    -0.9
Lenny DiNardo          OAK        1          21       2       6    -2.7
Jason Kendall          OAK        2          19       2       2    -0.1
Kurt Suzuki            OAK        2          16       1       2    -0.4
Nick Swisher           OAK        3         103      15      12     2.8
Daric Barton           OAK        3          35       6       4     1.6
Dan Johnson            OAK        3         193      27      27     0.1
Todd Walker            OAK        3          18       3       3    -0.1
Mark Ellis             OAK        4         695     170     134    27.0
Marco Scutaro          OAK        4          58      15      12     1.9
Eric Chavez            OAK        5         261      53      44     7.4
Jack Hannahan          OAK        5         119      27      25     1.3
Marco Scutaro          OAK        5         109      22      25    -2.3
Bobby Crosby           OAK        6         432     120     118    -1.0
Donnie Murphy          OAK        6         137      41      45    -1.2
Marco Scutaro          OAK        6         173      47      51    -2.2
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Horacio Ramirez        SEA        1          24       2       0     1.8
Miguel Batista         SEA        1          28       3       2     0.9
Jarrod Washburn        SEA        1          22       3       2     0.4
Sean Green             SEA        1          17       2       3    -0.6
Felix Hernandez        SEA        1          30       3       4    -0.7
Kenji Johjima          SEA        2          34       1       2    -0.4
Ben Broussard          SEA        3          87      13      15    -2.2
Richie Sexson          SEA        3         241      35      39    -3.2
Jose Lopez             SEA        4         640     159     151     5.8
Jose Vidro             SEA        4          30       7       9    -1.9
Willie Bloomquist      SEA        4          69      17      24    -5.7
Willie Bloomquist      SEA        5          45      11      11    -0.2
Adrian Beltre          SEA        5         482      98     103    -4.4
Willie Bloomquist      SEA        6          68      18      17     1.2
Yuniesky Betancourt    SEA        6         651     178     187    -4.8
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jamey Wright           TEX        1          16       1       1     0.3
Robinson Tejeda        TEX        1          17       2       2     0.0
Willie Eyre            TEX        1          16       2       2    -0.3
Kevin Millwood         TEX        1          18       1       2    -0.4
Kameron Loe            TEX        1          34       3       6    -2.3
Gerald Laird           TEX        2          40       3       3    -0.1
Mark Teixeira          TEX        3         150      23      18     3.3
Frank Catalanotto      TEX        3          22       3       2     1.0
Brad Wilkerson         TEX        3         101      16      16    -0.1
Jarrod Saltalamacchia  TEX        3          55       9      11    -1.6
Ian Kinsler            TEX        4         600     152     138    10.6
Jerry Hairston         TEX        4          56      14      12     1.9
Desi Relaford          TEX        4          38      10      12    -1.5
Ramon Vazquez          TEX        4          49      13      17    -3.0
Jerry Hairston         TEX        5          19       4       4     0.2
Hank Blalock           TEX        5         109      25      26    -0.7
Ramon Vazquez          TEX        5         196      42      44    -1.7
Travis Metcalf         TEX        5         149      32      35    -2.1
Matt Kata              TEX        5          20       4      10    -4.1
Ramon Vazquez          TEX        6          58      17      12     3.7
Michael Young          TEX        6         670     188     191    -4.7

Ichiro!

After being out of contact for two days camping with the family I watched the All-Star game this afternoon. Another disappointing loss for the National Leaguers to which I am very sympathetic as a life long NL fan. But still, give Ichiro Suzuki his due. During the game 238 of the 292 pitches were captured by PITCH f/x and here are Suzuki's three plate appearances.

Long Live the King

My column today focuses on creating pitcher profiles using the Gameday data with a case study on Felix Hernandez. It turns out that 415 of Hernandez's approximately 800 pitches in 2007 have been captured by PITCHf/x and so it's interesting to explore generating pitch profiles and various tables and graphs breaking down his pitches every which way from Sunday. For me, it was mostly an exercise in seeing how easy it would be to manipulate the data in various ways but it did quantify Felix's loss of movement and velocity following injury, his reluctance to throw the changeup against right-handed hitters, as well as his tendency to focus on the fastball in the first inning. Of course these are things that have been observed but it's nice to see the supporting evidence as well.

What I find most interesting (and piggy-backing off of the work of others) is that it shows the pitches can be identified and classified using the data (my algorithm was able to hit 95% agreement on his June 10th start based on David Cameron's charting). What I did was exceedingly simple, however, and requires customization for each pitcher. It'll be interesting to see if a system can be devised that classifies the pitches more broadly across a set of pitchers. Still, it seems human interaction will be required but hopefully it can be minimized.

Don't forget about the chat tomorrow!