Question for Enscheff

U

USMA76

Well-known member
Okay, I'm trying to drag myself (albeit kicking and screaming) out of the Stone Age/Joe Simpson era in order to be at least moderately conversant in current baseball analytics.

In that light, I picked up Keith Law's book and am reading it. Have you read it and what are your thoughts? What are some other "101 Level" books you might recommend?

Appreciate any input.
 
Not Ensheff, but major props. I think we all have this tendency to limit our knowledge interests to a bubble that’s comfortable, and that includes the analytical folk as well, so anyone who is willing to reach across the aisle is commendable in my opinion.

If I could offer any advice it would be to read as current as possible materials since the analytics movement as a whole (across every industry really) is reaching its crescendo. Basically at this point if you are reading Bill James or Moneyball you are decades past where the current analytics environment is and may actually strike you as inconsistent in some respects.

I haven’t read Keith’s book but the consensus is that it is a really good appetizer for the uninitiated. I think if you read that and you mix in analytical leaning articles from Ben Lindbergh, Jonah Keri, and Jeff Sullivan (very accessible, unabnoxious sabermetric writers) then you will have a good grasp at how those in the community view baseball.
 
It's an oldie (first published in 1985), but John Thorn's and Pete Palmer's The Hidden Game of Baseball initiated much of the modern analytical movement [along with Bill James' Baseball Abstract(s).] What helps with this book is that it came out before the New Dealish lingo with dueling acronyms. If you can find any of the Bill James' Scoreboard books, they are also very helpful.

Here's a link to The Hidden Game of Baseball at Amazon. If you don't want to frequent Bezos, you can always get it at the University of Chicago Press.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Game-...y-Statistics/dp/022624248X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

University of Chicago: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo19782299.html
 
thewupk said:
Fangraphs has a pretty good primer.

https://www.fangraphs.com/library/getting-started/
Click to expand...

FG really is ground zero for all this stuff. While teams obviously have their own systems, they all very closely resemble what FG does. Teams have much better info on injury/rest, access to much more detailed Statcast data, and they all have their preferences on things like defensive value, shifting, pitching philosophies, etc...but they all do essentially what FG does for us dorks in the public sphere.

You will also want to learn about surplus value with regards to both MLB players and prospects. This is a good explanation, as is the link inside the article to the work done by the guys at Point of Pittsburgh: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/valuing-the-2017-top-100-prospects/

There is a reason teams routinely snipe folks from FG. Most recently, Dave Cameron was hired to lead the player development department for the Padres. These guys know (or knew before they started hiring all these silly fluff writers) their stuff when it comes to analytics.

If you want to read up on the physics behind thrown/batted balls doing what they do, and avoid sounding like tehteh when he blabbers, read Dr. Nathan's extensive work on the physics of baseball.
 
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