So how did we all do with the Challenge?

As I posted before, Joe Deauseault and Darren Schulz have been declared the co-winners of the 2^nd Annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge.  They both smartly guessed 19 of the 20 pitchers in the Challenge.  Let’s break down the numbers of the numbers a bit.  If you’re a hurry to see the grades of the pitchers in Challenge, they’re at the bottom of this article.  The entire 2019 set is now available on APBA GO too. 

There were a total of 125 eligible entries exceeding last year’s total by four.  The average number of correct guesses was 14.7.  Of the total number of 2500 guesses in the Challenge, there were 1,839 correct for a “grade” of 73.6%.

As mentioned, nineteen was the highest attained total of correct votes by an entrant.  The lowest was eight.  Most fans guessed 15 correct, a total of 28. Out of the 125 entrants, 119 got better than half right so we all must be doing something right. 

Over half of the entrants guessed correctly between 15-17 times.  That was the peak of bell curve. 

So who was the most difficult pitcher to guess? 

I’d have to say Mike Soroka followed by Mike Clevinger.  APBA bucked the trend and went against conventional wisdom at least according to APBA fans who voted.  

Both Soroka and Clevinger received a B grade.  Most APBA fans who took the Challenge thought they would receive an A.  In Soroka’s case, 68% of APBA fans thought he would get the superior grade. 

Frankie Montas was another tough one.  Most of you picked him to be a B but 57 of us (yes, he one was of my two misses) thought he might eke out an A grade. 

Who was the easiest? 

As the ballots started rolling in, I could tell Antonio Senzatela was going to be the unanimous vote-getter.  Over 97% of you thought he would be a D… and you were correct. 

Jose Berrios was a close second.  Over 91% correctly picked him to be a B pitcher. 

Three pitchers received at least one vote for each grade. 

Cole Hamels, Madison Bumgarner and Marcus Stroman received a vote for A, B, C and D grade.  In fact, Stroman received at least two votes for each grade.

And here are the basic game grades for the pitchers involved in the 2^nd Annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge.

Once again, congratulations to Darren Schulz and Joe Deauseault who will both receive the grand prize of the 2019 season on APBA GO. 

Thanks to John Herson and the APBA Company for supporting the Challenge.  I love doing this and hope it is fun for all of you!