Control the Transmission: What Do You Want on TV?

Tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the hitter, without having to skew value by adding together on-base and slugging. Then you’d want a plate appearances indicator at least. And I think everyone knows what those 3 numbers mean.

Over the last 2.5 seasons I’ve been visiting this site, I’ve come to put away my love of sac bunts, stolen bases, and batting average. (Thanks for enlightening me Brew Crew Ball!)

But even though I understand (or at least have a working knowledge) of many of the new and improved metrics, I don’t know enough to say what’s a good number.

For example, batting average is easy. Everybody “knows” that a nice round number like .300 is the mark of a “good” hitter. And I suspect that this is a big part of the reason why batting average remains a popular metric despite its major limitations.

But I can’t tell you that I have a good grasp of what makes for a good OBP, SLG, or of course OPS. Obviously, when I see Hardy or Hall OBPing below .300 I know it sucks and that Prince getting on at a .400+ level that it rules. But the more middle of the road cases are a lot tougher.

If somebody ever feels like it, maybe s/he could post a “Complete Idiots Guide to SaberMetrics” post so that when us newbies see “Player X is OPSing at a certain level” we know if that’s good or bad or somewhere in between.

I also think HR should continue to be involved because—let’s face it: Chicks love the longball.

I know it’s not realistic, but, they need to have 2 channels for each game. One would be as it is currently, for the casual fan, who’s not all that concerned with statistics, at least not enough to think about them non-stop when watching a game. The other feed needs to be analgous to CNBC’s HD feed:

Pretty much every stat that you possibly could consider relevant can be shown, and not get in the way of the game, unless you’re on a smaller set, in which case, sorry, you’re stuck with the traditional stats.

I’d watch it.

But I’m fine with the traditional Triple Crown stats on the broadcast. When I’m watching the game, I’m more interested in the game itself — the strategy, pitcher-hitter battles, etc. I don’t need to see Prince’s wOBA on the screen; if, for some reason, I want it, I can find it with two clicks of the mouse.

…that nobody has said KuG yet because it’s a no-brainer. Right?

Just as a way to compare whether that hitter is producing at, below, or above the level he did during the regular season.

I could also due with the standard slash stats in place of HR and RBI, although its sort of fun to see those numbers as well.

All in all, I don’t personally care, unless you’re all about educating folks who don’t really know much about baseball. I can dig up and (by and large) process to a fairly decent level of understanding most of the metrics used. So it wouldn’t really do a huge amount for me. Although, at many ballparks now, OBP and SLG are displayed on the scoreboard. So…to not have them on TV seems odd.

1) Players yearly wage (in $000,000s)
2) DIfference between player’s stated weight and their actual weight (in pounds)
3) Player’s stated political leanings (on a scale from 1 – left communist – to 10 – fascist).
4) Players fashion sense on a scale of 1-10. All scoring to be done by Witrado.

If that was introduced I could die a happy man. Plus it finally gives baseball a decent scale that works as well for pitchers as for hitters…

Teh hawtness rating (sponsored, of course, by Taco Bell or Chili’s)

As the hitter walks to the plate, the whole list of stats comes up including his splits against the handedness of pitcher he is facing. That way you could also include around 10 or so stats, as well.

And not just home run or hit charts, the ones that say how often the player hits a ground ball to the left, middle, and right, and fly ball left, middle, and right.

If mlb.com thinks that’s worth paying for, well then god knows it would make a good graphic.

And all substantial variables for the overall score.