From the Desk of the Commish

O F F I C I A L S I T E O F T H E B I G D A D D Y B A S E B A L L L E A G U E

Commish

April, 2009

Random Acts of Statistics

It's way too early to be looking at statistics and standings, but I can't think of anything else to write about this month. If you select eight weeks at random from any given season, you're bound to find a lot of quirky anomalies that seem almost too strange to believe, and the eight-week sample we now have certainly has its share.

Quirky fact #1: The SoCal Slyme are 11-1 at home, and just 9-7 on the road.
Slyme batters are hitting .333/.389/.470 at home, with 9 HR and 75 RBI in 421 AB. On the road, they're hitting just .267/.343/.425, with 14 homers and 74 RBI in 577 AB. At home, Slyme pitchers have yielded a .232/.289/.358 average to opposing hitters, while on the road, those numbers jump to .266/.334/.451.

The Slyme play in a ballpark modeled after PNC Park in Pittsburgh, which is a great park for left-handed doubles (PF 130) and home run (109) hitters, and one of the worst parks in baseball for right-handed home run hitters (PF 69.) So how do you explain that SoCal's best hitters this season have been right-handers Ryan Zimmerman (.420/.473/.667), Yadier Molina (.357/.422/.429), Torii Hunter (.347/.412/.574), Ryan Garko (.341/.386/.415) and Hanley Ramirez (.270/.341/.577)? And how do you explain that SoCal's two worst starting pitchers -- Jamie Moyer (4.46 ERA) and Ted Lilly (6.28 ERA) -- are both left-handed? I can't. That's why it's quirky.

Quirky fact #2: The New Milford Blazers are 19-0 when leading after seven innings.
This, despite the fact that the Blazers' bullpen ranks just 14th in the BDBL in ERA at 4.26. From the seventh to ninth inning, Blazers pitchers have yielded a .275/.339/.427 average -- a batting average that ranks #21 out of 24 teams in the BDBL. With runners on base, those numbers drop to .266/.342/.357. With two outs and runners on, those numbers drop to .225/.319/.350. And with runners in scoring position, with two outs, from inning #7-#9, New Milford's pitchers have yielded a batting average of just .208 (with a .356 OBP and .333 SLG%.) Quirky, eh?

Quirky fact #3: Corona pinch hitters are hitting .368/.417/.711 with 6 HR.
So far, Corona has had the best bench in the BDBL, hands-down. Manchester (.367/.404/.522), Marlboro (.364/.422/.697 with 9 HR) and New Hope (.304/.418/.536) have also enjoyed great pinch hitting. Salem (.330/.362/.432) has also done well off the bench, though they've yet to have a pinch-hit home run.

On the flip side, Kansas' bench (.143/.232/.143) has performed abysmally, as has Atlanta's (.161/.242/.304), South Carolina's (.182/.265/.227) and Las Vegas' (.188/.266/.319.)

Quirky fact #4: The St. Louis Apostles are hitting .328/.415/.579 with runners in scoring position.
This may explain why the Apostles are undefeated (7-0) in one-run games. Southern Cal (.302/.384/.444), New Milford (.298/.386/.467), Los Altos (.295/.369/.514) and San Antonio (.292/.367/.509) are also hitting extremely well in the clutch. What do all five of those teams have in common? They're all .600 teams. Coincidence?

Quirky fact #5: You want Ryan Ludwick up when the bases are loaded (only if your name is Tony Badger.)
With the bases juiced, Ludwick is 3-for-4 this season, with a double and two grand slam homers. Nashville's Ryan Howard has also hit two grand slams already this season. On the flip side, Manchester's Carlos Pena and New Milford's Brian Roberts are each 0-for-5 with the bases loaded, with four strikeouts. One match-up I'd like to see, however, is Pena batting against Marlboro's Ricky Nolasco with the bases loaded. Pena is 3-for-4 against Nolasco this season, with three home runs.

If you're Ed McGowan, it doesn't matter who is at the plate with the bases loaded. The Confederates are hitting just .143/.290/.143 with the bags juiced. The Ridgebacks (.160/.250/.320) haven't been much better. But the bad news doesn't end there for Ed...

Quirky fact #6: Corona's pitching is atrocious.
The combined ERA for Corona's starting pitching this season is 7.05. That's 178 earned runs in 227 innings. Corona pitchers are consistently atrocious. They suck both at home (where opponents are hitting .321/.366/.550 against them) and on the road (.309/.388/.496); with the bases empty (.323/.376/.544) and with runners on (.311/.373/.515); with runners in scoring position (.325/.388/.545) and with two outs (.351/.407/.588.) Quirky? I sure hope so, for Ed's sake.

Quirky fact #7: Lance Berkman has as many errors at third base as Ryan Zimmerman.
In 142+ innings at third base, Berkman has made just one error so far this season (in 48 total chances, which is a .979 fielding percentage.) Zimmerman has committed the same number of errors in 193+ innings at third (in 54 TCs -- a .981 fielding percentage.) Another great defensive experiment is taking place in Villanova, where Brian Giles is sporting a .971 fielding percentage (5 errors in 174 TCs) at first base.

Quirky fact #8: Don't run on SoCal catchers.
What a difference a few years makes. Early in his career, Martinez was rated "Pr" for an arm, and most people figured he'd eventually have to move out from behind the plate. In the BDBL, Martinez allowed 21 stolen bases in 26 attempts in 2004 (an 81% success rate.) That rate fell to 70% in 2005, 63% in 2006 and 60% in 2007, before rising to 68% last year. But this year, only eight runners have dared attempt to steal off of Martinez, and he's gunned down five of them. And SoCal's #1 catcher (in terms of innings behind the plate), Yadier Molina, has nailed three out of four potential base stealers. In total, then, only 12 runners have attempted to steal against SoCal catchers, and eight of them have been gunned down.

Quirky fact #9: Chad Billingsley owns a 9.00 ERA.
Seriously. Look it up. 38 innings, 38 earned runs. He's also allowed 26 walks in those 38 innings, and 6 homers in 7 games. Amazingly, he's held righties to an average of only .250/.318/.375. But lefties are absolutely pounding him to the tune of .373/.500/.640. There are other surprising names on the top ten list of worst ERA's so far this season, including Braden Looper (8.14), Kyle Lohse (7.60), Javier Vazquez (7.58), Ben Sheets (7.24), Edwin Jackson (7.20) and Gil Meche (6.64.) It's early.

Quirky fact #10: Catchers own a 760 OPS in the BDBL.
Amazing, right? I expected this number to be much, much lower. There are actually ten teams in the BDBL whose catchers have posted an 800+ OPS this season, and six that have posted an OPS below 700. The worst of the lot (no surprise) are the Sea Cats, whose catchers have hit .212/.257/.242 this season (a 499 OPS.) Las Vegas (.202/.269/.245), Ravenswood (.198/.309/.274) and Salem (.197/.295/.295) don't have much to brag about, either.