Baseball & Statistics

[mhuber92211]

Hi all.

 

Sorry for the new thread for asking a question and I am not trying to start a stat debate but I have a honest question.

 

I will wholeheartly admit that I am not a "stat head" and I don't claim to fully understand some of the advance statistics available. However, I am curious about how much stats can actually quantify. What I mean to ask is that for those who can provide statistics on pretty much any topic/player how much of the game can't be quantified? 10%? 5%?

[WindyCity]

how much of the game can't be quantified? 10%? 5%?

 

0%

[ZiggyTaxi]

I find it humorous to try to put a number on something that supposedly can't be quantified.

[Big Fergie J]

"Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical"

 

Yogi Berra

[Elrhino]

Baseball's best statisticians claim they can account for 60%

[cubbieinexile]

In terms of past performance statistics can quantify about 100% of what happened. In terms of using stats as a predictive for future performance that % drops way down to somwhere in that 50 to 66% range.

[biittner77]

In terms of past performance statistics can quantify about 100% of what happened. In terms of using stats as a predictive for future performance that % drops way down to somwhere in that 50 to 66% range.

 

So there's a 40% chance that Jacques Jones won't suck?

[Rob]

In terms of past performance statistics can quantify about 100% of what happened. In terms of using stats as a predictive for future performance that % drops way down to somwhere in that 50 to 66% range.

 

So there's a 40% chance that Jacques Jones won't suck?

 

Or that he'll suck so much he'll implode...

[cubbieinexile]

So there's a 40% chance that Jacques Jones won't suck?

 

No because we don't really know how he will be used which is why the stats cannot be precise for the future. Jones cannot hit lefties is decent against righties. From there we have the vagaries of variables to true talent level. Right now we got about 40 plate appearances against righties for this season. Is this a true measure of his abilities or are the 1200 PA's the last 3 years better indicators.

 

I would say that if Jones usage is minimized against lefties there is a much higher chance that he won't suck this year. Or I should say his numbers will not remain this low for the whole year. That will probably be the case even if he still recieves some playing time against lefties. Though don't expect his numbers to go up during this stretch of baseball games. A whole lot of lefties are facing the Cubs during this stretch.

[ltb]

it's not close to 100%, and this is why sabermetrics is such an interesting field. there's still so much to learn about the game through stats.

[mhuber92211]

I find it humorous to try to put a number on something that supposedly can't be quantified.

 

Ha Ha...good point.

 

And thanks for the answers.