2019 Trade Deadline Thread:

[Enscheff]

Is the context for success in wOBA scaled metrics the same for relievers as it would be with starters?

I do note that relievers tend to be more heavily represented at the top of those leaderboards. Wonder if you should expect more from them due to their being able to put out max effort.

Coming out of the BP and going all out plus being used in spots where the pitcher tends to have a platoon advantage is a huge advantage.

It's a rough breakdown, but I tend to rate SPs as:

80 0.260
70 0.280
60 0.300
50 0.320
40 0.340
30 0.360
20 0.380

and BP arms as:

80 0.230
70 0.260
60 0.290
50 0.320
40 0.340
30 0.360
20 0.380

Those grades for SPs were eyeballed by setting the minimum IP to 150, and the BP grades eyeballed by looking at "everyone else".

Those grades are by no means mathematically sound (each "grade" is defined as a standard deviation from the mean), and could probably be vetted a bit, but I think they are at least in the realm of reasonable.

The hard line between SP/BP at 150 IP is rather arbitrary, and doesn't fully capture the contributions of guys like Miller who would shut down an opposing lineup for more than 1 inning vs a LOOGY who faced a single batter at a time. Those additive contributions are better captured by a tool like fWAR, the scouting scale equivalents described here:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/scouting...couting-scale/

So when I say a SP is a "Grade 60 #3" I could be talking about his ~.300 xwOBA, or I could be talking about his ~3 fWAR production. Those values don't always line up because a guy like Keuchel carries an xwOBA that's a grade ~60, but eats so many IP he produces fWAR like a borderline #2/#3. As always, these labels carry a bit more nuance than is typically fleshed out in a message board post.