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. 

Midyear Reports

So the season is more than half way completed and some players are just raking. This post will focus on the players raking. Another will follow with the players who are disappointing, and another will follow with which teams may be buyers and which teams may be sellers.

In the American League, baseballs are flying out of stadiums from every which direction. The home run leader Chris Davis has an astounding 33 home runs as of July 10th. Miguel Cabrera follows him with 29 in the Motor City, and Adam Dunn represents the South Side with 24.

In the National League, Carlos Gonzalez leads with 24 big flys with Philadelphia's pleasant surprise Dominic Brown and Pittsburgh's slugger Pedro Alvarez both trailing with 23. Alvarez's amazing season has been a major part in Pittsburgh's contention in the NL Central and why they are fighting with the Cardinals for the best record in baseball.

Throw Back Miggy with the Marlins

I'm not a big fan of batting average, I like on base percentage more, but some guys are just blowing the category away this year. In the NL Yadier Molina leads with a .344 avg followed by Rockies surprise Michael Cuddyer with a .336 avg. Finishing third in the NL avg contest is Allen Craig with a .329 avg of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miguel Cabrera has made a joke of American League pitching by posting a .366 batting average a half season after winning the triple crown. David Ortiz comes in second with a .327 avg for the Red Stockings and teammate Dustin Pedroia finished third with a .321 avg; a fair explanation for the success of the Boston Red Sox.

In the MLB leaders for ERA the first seven names are of the National League. Pitching has been dominate in the NL this season. Clayton Kershaw leads the pack with a 1.89 ERA, followed by Jeff Locke of the Pirates with a 2.15 ERA, and rounding out the top three is Adam Wainwright with a 2.30 for the Cardinals.

Felix Hernandez is the king of Seattle. He has a 2.69 ERA for the Mariners, leading the American League. Second in the AL is Bartolo Colon with a ... 2.69 ERA (rounded but slightly higher than Hernandez's). Finally Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda has a 2.77 ERA in 2013 and has been a bright spot for the bombers this year.

I've also mentioned how strikeouts aren't a necessity for pitchers, but they are still awesome to watch and in the American League Yu Darvish has collected 157 k's to lead the MLB. Second in the AL and third in the MLB is Max Scherzer with 146 punch outs. Finally rou
nding out the trio is surprise guest Justin Masterson with 137 strikeouts for the Cleveland Indians.


In the National League pheno
m Matt Harvey leads the league with 147 for the Mets. Following Harvey is my favorite starter Clayton Kershaw with 129 k's in LA. From the North side of Chi Town comes the man who's name I can't spell Jeff Samardzija with 128 strikeouts in 2013.

Jim Johnson. Was that a balk or a bark?

The American League features all three save leaders in the MLB. They are of course Jim Johnson of the Orioles with 31, Joe Nathan of the Rangers with 30, and the great Mariano Rivera of the Yankees with 29. That is as of July 12th.

In the National League the save leaders are the usual suspect and two surprising pitchers. Jason Grilli of the Pirates leads the NL with 28 saves, followed by Craig Kimbrel of the Braves with 25, and Edward Mujica of the Cardinals
also with 25.

Those are your lead leaders for the midyear report. These guys have been ripping their leagues a new one. They may just continue to do so for the second half. Will Davis hit 60 homers? Will Cabrera win back to back triple crowns? Can Kershaw finish with a sub 2.00 ERA? We have about 70 more games to find out.