11/05/24
August 15, 2007
Baseball's Particle Accelerator: The new technology that will change statistical analysis forever.
Statistics geeks, rejoice. If you have the time and inclination, you can really load up on meaningless analysis of minutae. There are lots of off-the-wall numbers to look at, and some meaningful analysis might be done, but it looks like an awful lot of work.
posted by Howard_T at 09:40 PM on August 15, 2007
It should be a lot of fun for the "what if "crowd. However, like an opinion,it will have no relevance or basis in reality(whatever that is).
posted by sickleguy at 07:27 PM on August 16, 2007
To hell with the statgeeks, this is fun for no other reason than it's fun. It's just neat. Innocent and mindless -- like baseball stats used to be before OPS and VORP and GHTDUFGRT and FlibbleWOP. That crap's so bad it's apparently clogging the tubes of the internet. Enough is enough (EE), I say. Free the internet (FTI) from the clogginess of statgeeks (CoSG). I'd ask for the pitchforks and torches to go after the SG's, but last check Grum had them. So that probably wouldn't go over to well.
posted by SummersEve at 10:52 AM on August 17, 2007
You gave the pitchforks and torches to the stat geek? What were you thinking?
posted by hawkguy at 11:03 AM on August 17, 2007
Oh man, that's so cool. And fielding might be coming next year? I've been thinking recently that people (whether normal or nerds) are information processors at heart and whatever a person geeks out on, it tends to be something they understand enough* to want loads of data on. As such, This Is Good. * Or thinks they understand. It all came to me while watching the sheer flood of telemetry data NASCAR broadcasts provide fans.
posted by yerfatma at 11:22 AM on August 17, 2007
This is pretty cool, but if I was behind the plate and they put the pitch location stuff up on the board, I'd walk off the field.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:31 AM on August 17, 2007
Okay, originally I thought this was stupid. Now, I thought, I not only have to own a calculator to discuss baseball but I need a protractor, too. And, like Frazer, I sympathize with the umpires on this one. BUT! Then I read this, which indicates that video games might be able to receive Pitch F/X information and translate it to live video game action. And that is just about the coolest thing I have ever heard of in my entire life. Bring it!
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 11:51 AM on August 17, 2007
Awesome. Last week, the Houston Astros tested out displaying the Pitch f/x strike zone on the scoreboard for a few innings during a game. This feels like a bad idea. Imagine how bad things could get for an ump if 52,000 Mets fans know he just rang up Jose Reyes on a called strike that was 3 inches off the plate. Well, duh, don't display pitch location in the strike zone. Let's not re-hash the QuesTec argument again. But imagine displaying break distance and angle along with speed on the 'board. Hot.