About Me And Recent Work

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season, as this is when the market slows down. I would like to take a moment and let my readers know a little about me. My goal is to one day be a general manager of a Major League team, but I would be just as happy to work for a network that broadcast baseball, or another position for a team. I have also considered opportunities that may exist in Japan, Australia, The Dominican Republic, and other foreign countries. I am currently studying statistics, economics, and mathematics in hopes to earn my bachelors degree in a few years. 

In my intro to statistic class, my group and I look at some distinct groups in the Major Leagues. We collected data from all the position players who played 116 games or more in 2013 and stratified them into groups: 50 American League players, 50 National League Players, 33 24-27 year old players, 34 28-31 year old players, and 33 32-35 year old players. 

Using statistical software and proper judgement we found that there is not much evidence that proves that one group is better than the other in home runs. This chart to the right shows the home runs for the 50 players in each league who played at least 116 games. The evidence shows that the American League is not better than the National League as many think, they are literally almost exactly the same.  The same outcome came up when comparing the number of home runs by the different age groups. The American League is only superior in one respect: the pitcher is not required to bat, but I did not incorporate that, I strictly wanted to test the players. 

Batting average also doesn't change much between age group as many think. It is a common misconception that the 28-31 age group is the best age group, but in batting average they all seem to be the same. In this graph 0 represents the other two age groups, and 1 represents the 28-31 age group. They are statistically similar. A player may be healthiest and most agile when in this age group, but in 2013 all of the players seem to have similar statistics. 

Remember that each age group was composed of about 33 players randomly selected from the total number of players in that age group who played 116 games or more. One notable player that was not selected randomly was Miguel Caberea. Perhaps after another selection the statistics may be slightly more different, but not by much. 

Pujols and Haren

Last night in Seattle the Angels' recent additions came into effect. Dan Haren came to the Angels via trade in 2010 and of course Albert Pujols signed as a free agent in the 2011-2012 off season.

Haren posted a 3.17 ERA in 238.1 innings pitched in 2011 and in 2012 he started off rocky. After last nights game he lowered his ERA to 3.76 after a complete game shutout.

Pujols has been arguably the best player in the major leagues over the past 10 years, but he has not panned out in the first year of his mega-contract with the Angels. Things seems to finally be turning around for Pujols. In last night's game Pujols went 3-4 with a 2 run home run. In his last 10 game Pujols has 4 home runs, 13 hits and  10 RBI's. He is hitting .325 over that span and .225  on the year.

The main story of the game was Haren. Haren struck out 14 Mariners and gave up only 4 hits and 0 walks. Pujols' home runs was his 450th of his career and Haren recorded his 1500th strikeout.

Bryce Harper and Albert Pujols

Bryce Harper is the most hyped prospect possibly of all time. He is just 19 years old. We all expected him to be good, but not this good. Harper has played in 8 games at the Major League level and has already reached super star status in the Washington DC area. In 28 at bats Harper has 8 hits and 3 RBI's. Harper has also drawn 5 walks and scored 3 runs. 5 doubles also are marked on Harper's baseball card, but probably the most significant event in his young career was an eventful steal of home. The link to the video is the following: HARPER'S STEAL.

Lets go from a 19 year old rookie outfielder to a 32 year old veteran first baseman. Albert Pujols hit his first home run of the season yesterday. After 112 at bats Pujols has 7 RBI's and just 22 hits. Accompany that with 10 runs scored and .196/.237/.295 slash line. Alex Rodriguez a hitter notorious for hitting home runs commented on the situation stating that once Pujols hits one home run he will then hit 5 or 6 more soon after. Home runs come in clusters. The home run is the following link: PUJOLS' HOMER

Vote in the poll on the side of this post. Who will hit more home runs this year: Harper or Pujols.