4
December

The 2009 APBA Baseball set by the numbers: it’s the pitchers’ turn

Last night, I broke down the position players of new 2009 APBA baseball set number-wise.  Tonight, it’s the pitchers’ turn.  A little more difficult what without all the fun hit numbers and all but I still did all right.

 

# of pitchers in the 2009 APBA set 442

 

Let’s start off with a simple breakdown of the graded pitchers. 

 

# of C starters (MG 5-9) 99
# of B starters (MG 10-14) 61
# of A starters (MG 15-19) 6

 

# of C relievers 86
# of B relievers 67
# of A relievers 33
# of A&C (MG 20-24) 10

 

Some of those grades overlap since they belong to split grade pitchers.  Speaking of…

 

# of split grade pitchers (MG) 36
# of split grade pitchers (basic) 20

 

Who were the best graded pitchers?  Those in the know already dug this info up by now.

 

Highest Graded Starters    
Chris Carpenter StL 18
Zack Greinke KC 18
Felix Hernandez Sea 18

 

Highest Graded Relievers    
Phil Hughes NYY 24
Mike Adams SD 24
Scott Eyre Phi 24

 

Let’s take a look at the strikeout and control ratings.

 

# of pitchers with XY rating 25
# of pitchers with X rating 34
# of pitchers with Y rating 143
# of pitchers with W rating 51
# of pitchers with Z rating 130

I was a bit surprised at the number of XY pitchers to be quite honest.

 

And a little bit of fun…

 

# of D pitchers with X or XY rating 4
# of A or B pitchers with no Strikeout ratings 4
# of B or better pitchers with an L or M rating 1 (Tyler Clippard)
# of D pitchers with an H rating 1 (Ross Detwiler)

 

I’ve listed the best pitcher grades already (kudos to Rob Moore for picking Hughes as a rookie, btw) but I haven’t gotten to the worst.  A little bit of morbid fun on my part.  There are tons of Grade 1 pitchers out there but if I had to pick the absolute worst, it would have to be a tie between Dontrelle Willis and Rich Hill.  Both are Grade 1 starters with a W rating.  From the bullpen, there is Logan Kensing and Josh Wilson who are also 1s with a W and have an M homerun rating to go with it.

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3
December

APBA’s 2009 baseball cards by the numbers

I’m getting  a good look at the numbers for the 2009 APBA Baseball disk file today.  I thought I’d play around a bit and break it down number-wise.  After some sorting and filtering, here is the 2009 set by the numbers. 

Today, I’m strictly looking at the position players.   Maybe tomorrow, I’ll break down the pitchers. 

 

The Best

 

Most EBH #s    
Rusty Ryal Ari 6
     
Most Hit #s    
Ichiro Suzuki Sea 13
     
Most 14s    
Greg Norton Atl 7
     
Most 42s    
Kelly Shoppach Cle 2
Jeff Bailey Bos 2
     
Most 11s    
Julio Borbon Tex 3
Nyjer Morgan Was 3
Michael Bourn Hou 3
     
Best OF arm    
Ichiro Suzuki Sea 38
Shane Victorino Phi 38
Rick Ankiel StL 38
     
Highest Speed #    
Emilio Bonifacio Fla 20
Willy Taveras Cin 20
Michael Bourn Hou 20
     

 

The Worst

Least Hit #s    
Diory Hernandez Atl 5
Chris Gimenez Cle 5
Aaron Cunningham Oak 5
Greg Norton Atl 5
     
Worst OF Arm    
Johnny Damon NYY 26
     
Lowest Speed #    
Bengie Molina SF 2
Yadier Molina StL 2
     
Most 13s    
Brian Bixler Pit 17
     
Most 24s    
Tommy Everidge Oak 7

     

 

Breakdown of the Best and Worst Fielding Ratings

 

# of C-9 3
# of C-5 9
   
# of 1B-5 10
# of 1B-2 many
   
# of 2B-9 4
# of 2B-5 2
   
# of SS-10 0
# of SS-6 9
   
# of 3B-5 13
# of 3B-3 many

 

 

Random Stuff

 

# of players with two first column 1s 17
# of players with first column 2 2
# of players with first column 3 7 (Brooks Conrad has 2)
# of players with two first column 5s 13
# of players with 3 31s 16
# of players with 2 22s 5

 

and just for kicks:

 

First player listed alphabetically LAA Bobby Abreu
Last player listed alphabetically Bos Ben Zobrist

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3
December

The Disc is Out! The Disc is Out!

(ed note:  Thanks to Rob Moore for submitting this! –tbz)

One of the highlights of the offseason in APBA-land is the release of the disc for the just-finished season. I don’t even use Baseball for Windows anymore, and yet I still buy the disc. This year, for the first time, I pre-ordered it and received it via email. After an hour or two hunting down utilities on the web that would allow me actually make sense of the data contained on said disc, kind of like a kid trying to get the packaging off of a new toy, I was able to finally get at the numerical goodness at the center.

It’s interesting that no one is ever too concerned about the hitting cards; once you’ve been doing this a while you get a pretty good sense of what kind of card a hitter is going to get based on their stats, and while there is some variance in the specifics, they’re never that big of a surprise. The big questions are always “what are the pitching grades” and “what are the fielding numbers.” This is certainly the case for me.

I always look to see what my rotation is going to look like first, and to see if there are any unusual grades in the pitching ranks. Those things get hashed out all over the place, though, so I won’t go over that well-trod ground. Fielding, on the other hand, is always interesting, because our understanding of fielding is so nebulous. APBA also is said to use fielding as a bit of a fudge factor to nudge a team’s overall performance one way or the other – I’m not 100% sure I buy into that, but in theory it would be pretty easy to use small bumps in catcher or first base defense ratings to push a team up or down, as those ratings don’t affect play results in the same way that ratings at the other positions do. The game company also seems to be slow to recognize the advancements in fielding metrics that have started to gain ground in the world of baseball analysis, meaning that often the fielding ratings are hotly contested.

Mike Lowell is a good case in point; he is a 3b-5 again, APBA’s top rating for a third baseman. In the past he has deserved that rating, but this year coming off hip surgery (what is it with 3b’s and their hips this year?) he was considered to be a few steps worse than usual. Going be UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating, available at www.fangraphs.com), he was the second worst in MLB, although his Range Factor and fielding percentages weren’t terrible.

Another oddity; of 76 players with second base listed as their primary position on the disc, 27 (36%) are 2b-8 or 2b-9. Compare that to 3b-5 (10 of 64, or 16%) or SS-9 ( 15/65, or 23%). I wonder if that is consistent over the years…

Another good barometer is the Gold Glove winners. I’ve known lots of APBA players who have felt that if their guy got a Gold Glove, they should get the top rating. I’m not in that camp; firstly, the Gold Glove voting is pretty haphazard in quality; secondly, being the best doesn’t mean you’re actually any good. We’re not grading on a curve here, folks. I think. The gold glove winners are fairly accurately represented, with all of them getting top ratings. Derek Jeter, who gets some flak for his defense, got his SS-9, and while most agree that while he isn’t the best shortstop in the AL, he has improved his defense over the past couple of years. Elvis Andrus, who probably IS the best defensive shortstop in the AL, got a rare rookie SS-9 as well.

And by the way, my team did OK. My infield is Adrian Beltre (3b-5), Miguel Tejada (SS-8), Howie Kendrick (2b-8), Lance Berkman (1b-4) and Miguel Montero (C-7). My outfield will likely be Johnny Damon (OF-2), Justin Upton (OF-2), and Gary Sheffield (OF-1). With a little defensive substitution (Ivan Rodriguez and his C-8, Chris Young and his OF-3) I should be able to swing a Fielding One team.

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1
December

2009 disk in: A look at the starting pitchers

The emailed “disk” is making its way into people’s inboxes.  By now, we know the official pitching grades and with a little extrapolation, the hitting numbers of the 2009 set. 

The big story among pitchers is the re-appearance of split grades.  And I mean SPLIT grades.  Phil Hughes is rated a 3 (24*) or a D (A&C*).  That’s a 21 point difference, something I don’t think we’ve seen for a while. 

Even Chan Ho Park managed a 1 (16*).

Park’s ERA for 2009 was 4.43 so I had to look up his splits.  Sure enough, his ERA as a starter in 7 starts was 7.29.  His ERA in 38 relief appearances was 2.52.  In my opinion, the split grade he was given fits.

Here are the A starters for the 2009 set:

Greinke 18 XYZ
Hernandez 18 X
Carpenter 18 YZ
Lincecum 17 XY
Jurrjens 15 Y
Wainwright 15 XZ

 

With thanks to JDRushton from the APBA Between the Lines forum, who complied this list, I’m posting the starting pitchers’ grades (indexed by grade):

 

18 – C. Carpenter, Greinke, F. Hernandez

17 – Lincecum

15 – Jurrjens, Wainwright

14 – Cain, Halladay, Kershaw

13 – Hanson, Happ, Lester, W. Rodriguez, Sabathia, Vazquez. Verlander

12 – Haren, E. Jackson, U. Jimenez, Jo. Johnson, C. Lee, J. Santana, Jer. Weaver

11 – Beckett, Bedard, Lilly, Millwood, Nieve, Peavy, Pineiro, R. Wells, Wolf

10 – Bergesen, Danks, Dempster, Gallardo, Niemann

9 – Buehrle, Burnett, Feldman, Haeger, Lackey, Outman, Porcello, Rzepczynski, Washburn

8 – Arroyo, Correia, Duensing, Garza, D. Hudson, Lannan, P. Martinez, Ohlendorf, Pettitte, Richard, Rowland-Smith, Stauffer, Zambrano

7 – Blackburn, Blanton, Boggs, Braden, Chamberlain, D. Davis, W. Davis, De La Rosa, T. Hudson, Kuroda, Laffey, LeBlanc, Maine, Marquis, Padilla, Price, Ramos, Romero, J. Sanchez, Saunders, Slowey, Tomko, Volquez, Wakefield

6 – B. Anderson, H. Bailey, Baker, Billingsley, C. Buchholz, Cook, Davies, Duke, Floyd, Gaudin, Harden, Hunter, Kawakami, Latos, Lerew, Looper, Matusz, Norris, Sadowski, A. Sanchez, Scherzer, Shields, Snell, Stults, Zito

5 – Adenhart (RIP), Cahill, Cecil, Cueto, Garland, G. Gonzalez, Hamels, Hammel, Huff, R. Johnson, Kazmir, Lehr, Lowe, Martin, Martis, McCarthy, A. Miller, Milton, Morton, Moyer, Niese, Nolasco, Oswalt, Owings, Pavano, Penny, E. Santana, West, C. Young, Zimmermann

4 – Bannister, Bonine, Colon, Escobar, Figueroa, Fister, French, F. Garcia, Guthrie, Hampton, Harang, Hart, L. Hernandez, Lohse, R. Lopez, Maholm, Maloney, Mazzaro, McCutchen, Meche, Misch, Moseley, Myers, R. Ortiz, Parra, Pelfrey, B. Ray, Redding, Schmidt, Sowers, Stammen, Tallet, Uehara, VandenHurk, J. Vargas, Volstad

3 – Bucker, Burns, Bush, Byrd, D. Cabrera, Carmona, Contreras, Detwiler, Figaro, Galarraga, Gallagher, Harrison, D. Hernandez, S. Hill, Holland, Liriano, Matsuzaka, Mock, Moehler, O’Sullivan, Perkins, Purcey, Richmond, Rogers, Suppan, Tillman, Torres, V. Vasquez, Wellemeyer,

2 – Balester, Banks, Bastardo, Berken, Eveland, Geer, Hochevar, Manship, Mitre, Olsen, Paulino, O. Perez, Petit, H. Ramirez, A. Reyes, J. Reyes, Smoltz, Sonnanstine, Swarzak, Waters

1 – Augenstein, Backe, Bazardo, T. Bell, Benson, Bonderman, Bowden, Burrez, A. Carpenter, C. Carrasco, Carillo, DiNardo, Eaton, Gabino, R. Hill, Z. Jackson, Koronka, S. Lewis, Litsch, W. Lopez, J. Martinez, Mills, Mortensen, Mulvey, Ortega, Penn, Ponson, Reineke, Samardzija, C. Silva, W. Silva, Simon, Taylor, Tazawa, Walters, Wang, B. Webb, Willis

Most of you are aware of the APBA Between the Lines forum where you can get a lot of great APBA info (including info on the new cards).  If not, get your butt over there and browse around. 

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