Baseball Between The Numbers: This is the ultimate guide to the new statistical thinking that's revolutionizing the game of baseball. In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The 1970s saw a revolution in baseball statistics, and it's a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way the sport is watched and understood, no-one has ever written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball think about the game. "Baseball Between the Numbers" is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game - such as hitting, pitching and fielding - the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how various teams could win more games.

MLB teams could be more flexible with the closer - National Post


National Post

MLB teams could be more flexible with the closer
National Post
“Fully 60% of all highly leveraged situations occur in innings six, seven and eight,” Keith Woolner of Baseball Prospectus wrote in the 2006 book Baseball Between the Numbers. The trick is to know precisely when to respond to those situations.

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Judging the Royals | Freshly squeezed - Kansas City Star


Judging the Royals | Freshly squeezed
Kansas City Star
One of the studies the reader cited was from “Baseball Between the Numbers,” and the author was Jonah Keri. I have that book on my shelf, so I read the two articles by Jonah Keri, “What's the Matter with RBI? … and Other Traditional Statistics” and ...

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Inside The Park Can Teams Protect Their Pitchers? - Baseball Prospectus


Inside The Park Can Teams Protect Their Pitchers?
Baseball Prospectus
In Extra Innings: More Baseball Between the Numbers, Ben Lindbergh noted that from 2001-2010, teams spent $4.33 for one WARP of relief pitching, making the position by far the most inefficient of any on a modern baseball roster. In the next chapter, ...

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Yankees manager Joe Girardi and his old-school approach to closers - The Star-Ledger - NJ.com


The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

Yankees manager Joe Girardi and his old-school approach to closers
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
For details, I'd suggest reading Tom Verducci's piece in Sports Illustrated and Keith Woolner's detailed explanation in Baseball Between the Numbers. But for the time-pressed, here are some of the shortcomings of the one-inning closer system: 1.

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Debate surrounds value of lineup protection - MLB.com


Debate surrounds value of lineup protection
MLB.com
James Click, a former Baseball Prospectus writer and currently the Rays director of baseball research and development, analyzed the question in the 2006 book "Baseball Between the Numbers" and came to a definite conclusion. "Protection is overrated ...

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The Lineup Doesn't Matter - Rum Bunter


Rum Bunter

The Lineup Doesn't Matter
Rum Bunter
Here's a quote from Baseball Between The Numbers, where I'm getting all of this information. the difference between the most optimal (lineups ordered by descending OBP or slugging average [SLG]) and least optimal batting orders (for example, ...

The afternoon after Robin Ventura's first bunt binge - South Side Sox


The afternoon after Robin Ventura's first bunt binge
South Side Sox
[For further reading on this topic, check out his chapter in Baseball Between the Numbers.] Click isn't some guy sitting in his basement, either. He's now the Director of Baseball Research and Development for the Tampa Bay Rays.

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