Chris Witt contacted The APBA Blog to me know about a project he’s been working on. He’s come up with a web tool that will project or predict pitcher’s grades for any major league pitcher from 1876-2008.
In his words:
I snooped around, and got into contact with some rabid APBA players who were able to fill me in on the formulas used to create cards. That being said, I used these formulas to create what I feel are more accurate pitching grades and ratings for the Basic version of the game. Some of this was also done to take old card sets into the present – for example, implementing the ZZ and K ratings.
You can find Chris Witt’s pitcher’s grade tool here.
As Chris mentioned, the tool allows you to determine ZZ and K ratings for those sets that don’t already implement the ratings. Also, it’s clear that the grades take into consideration statistics other than ERA and wins (2005 AJ Burnett with a 3.44 ERA is an A). Chris verified this saying that opposing batting average played a big part as well.
Standard disclaimer: Chris makes clear that these are not official APBA grades but just predictions or projections based on his formulas.
Related posts: