MASH Report (7/18/13)

Stream:

OUTL4W

gotta light?
Admin
Founder
Addict
6,640
33
200
0
Console: Headset:
With little new injury information because of the All-Star game, I will give a bit of information on three pitchers and look at the HURT and PAIN leader boards.
Colby Lewis***8216;s fastball is reported to be averaging 87 mph with 89 being his top end. This about 1 mph less than he threw in 2012 which was a career low.
Chris Carpenter***8216;s fastball in his rehab starts is averaging between 90 and 91 mph. This value would be near his 2012 when his ERA and ERA estimators hovered around 4.00.
• After taking a ball of the wrist last week, Max Scherzer looked fine at the All-Star game. He averaged 96.5 mph on his fastball.
HURT (Hitter’s Under-performance from Recent Trauma) Rankings (all hitter with 100 PA in 2013 and 500 PA from 2010 to 2012):
Any player with a HURT value over 100 (red) has the traits of a batter playing through an injury. Differentiating opinions exist on his heath.
HURTNameHURTPA (2013)PA (2010 to 2012)Hurt in 2013
1B.J. Upton201.63181883x
2Nolan Reimold171.6140505x
3Seth Smith159.63011372None
4Alex Avila129.62301318x
5Albert Pujols127.24072021x
6Jason Kubel127.22151554x
7Aramis Ramirez121.22091763x
8Melky Cabrera121.23351716x
9Chris Iannetta120.0250902None
10Giancarlo Stanton117.62241498x
11Lance Berkman115.22821165x
12Chris Johnson111.62891295None
13Jimmy Rollins110.44031724x
14Matt Kemp108.02461806x
15Brandon Phillips103.23881985x
16Jarrod Saltalamacchia100.8287864None
17Justin Turner100.8102690x
18Miguel Montero98.43521457None
19John Jaso97.22331038x
20Kevin Youkilis96.01181461x
21Vernon Wells94.83221437None
22Dustin Ackley91.22191044x
23Pablo Sandoval84.03251524x
24Troy Tulowitzki82.82651338x
25Brandon Inge82.81091214x
• Of the top 25 HURT scores, with the minimum playing time requirements met, 19 of the players have dealt with injuries so far this season. Half of those without reported injuries were catchers who deal with bumps and bruises all the time.
Seth Smith has the highest HURT score without a reported ailment. His ISO is on a 4 season decline along with his Contact%. His Speed Score is only on a 3 year decline. In this case, HURT may be picking up a quickly aging player instead of one who is injured.
• Overall, I am extremely happy with the current results of HURT. The one big change was removing IFFB% early on. Players are being spotted way before they are officially injured.
• The one huge improvement I would like is to run split values (monthly, 1st Half, etc). The FanGraphs database is not set up for splits on Speed Score or Contact%, so I would need to figure out a way to calculated these two with play-by-play data (or remove them). It is doable, but it would take a significant amount of time I don***8217;t have right now (looks like an off season project).
• Besides just the top 25 regulars, here is the full list of players for reference.
PAIN (Pitcher Abuse INdex) Rankings (30 IP in 2012, 30 Ip in 2013)
Any player with a PAIN value over 100 (red) has the traits of a pitcher likely to be hurt.
PAINNamePAINIP (2013)IP (2012)
1Jason Marquis220.6112.1127.2
2Jeff Locke219.2109.034.1
3Lucas Harrell184.6108.1193.2
4Alexi Ogando146.055.166.0
5Tanner Scheppers144.744.032.1
6Esmil Rogers141.371.278.2
7Matt Moore134.3107.1177.1
8Scott Feldman102.8109.2123.2
9Luis Mendoza102.781.1166.0
10John Axford98.538.269.1
11Francisco Liriano95.576.2156.2
12Felix Hernandez92.3138.2232.0
13Craig Stammen86.449.288.1
14Jordan Walden82.830.239.0
15Jered Weaver78.467.0188.2
16Zack Greinke75.485.0212.1
17Jake Westbrook74.275.0174.2
18Ryan Webb73.743.060.1
19Ryan Dempster71.8110.1173.0
20Adam Ottavino68.047.179.0
21Burke Badenhop64.441.162.1
22Jamey Wright61.043.067.2
23Michael Gonzalez60.433.035.2
24Yovani Gallardo59.3113.2204.0
25Mat Latos56.5120.0209.1
Jason Marquis tops the list for several reasons. His velocity is down about 1.5 mph. Additionally, his Zone% dropped from a low 46% to an insanely low 39%. The low Zone% has led to a 5.2 BB/9 which is almost as high as his 5.8 K/9. If he didn***8217;t have a shiny 9 wins an 3.77 ERA, I doubt he would still have job. His ERA estimators average out to a +5.00 value. There is just no way he can keep up the magic act.
• The one problem with PAIN currently, it relies on Zone%. The data and theory behind a bad Zone% leading to injury is: If a pitcher can***8217;t throw strikes, then something is wrong with their arm or something will be soon because of the inconsistency. I am thinking of dropping how much it is weighted and re-look into some features like a consistent release point.
• The initial results with PAIN were promising, but as time has gone on, I need to look towards improvements. I am thinking I need to compared data over a shorter time span with a month being the ideal time frame. Like with HURT, some of the values I use are not recorded as splits in the FanGraphs database. I will likely move forward with changing this metric first as it seems to have more potential.
• Besides just the top 25 regulars, here is the full list of players for reference.
Players on the DL
(*) 15 Day Disabled List
(**) 60 Day Disabled List
(***) 7 Day Concussion List
Red colored entries are updates since last report.


More...