Some good response on my bit trying to explain why Trout leads Cabrera in WAR (it’s 7.8 to 7.0 according to Baseball Reference this morning; 8.8 to 7.6 on Fangraphs) but I have to say that quite a lot of what I’ve seen shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Park Factors. I think the Twitter exchange I had with Brilliant Reader Joe more or less captures it:BR Joe: Don’t you find it a bit odd that Comerica “became” a hitter’s park at the exact time that Miggy went from great to otherworldly.Me: Fair question. Now ask it in reverse.Fair to say BR Joe didn’t buy my counter-question. He wasn’t alone. I got lots of people wondering if the sole reason that Detroit is NOW rated as a hitter’s park by Park Factors is because Miguel Cabrera is so awesome. I also got lots of people saying that the dimensions of Detroit’s park have not changed so it cannot just suddenly have become a hitters park. I also got lots of people who say they KNOW Detroit is a pitcher’s park because, well, they’ve seen it.Like I say, all of these seem to fundamentally miss how Park Factors are calculated.I can’t explain all of it because, honestly, I don’t understand all of it. There are a lot of adjustments made to equalize the innings pitched and to adjust for various quirks (such as the fact that hitters do not face the pitchers on their own team). If you want to get into all that, you can work your way through the
A bit more math: Park Factors
A bit more math: Park Factors
A bit more math: Park Factors
Some good response on my bit trying to explain why Trout leads Cabrera in WAR (it’s 7.8 to 7.0 according to Baseball Reference this morning; 8.8 to 7.6 on Fangraphs) but I have to say that quite a lot of what I’ve seen shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Park Factors. I think the Twitter exchange I had with Brilliant Reader Joe more or less captures it:BR Joe: Don’t you find it a bit odd that Comerica “became” a hitter’s park at the exact time that Miggy went from great to otherworldly.Me: Fair question. Now ask it in reverse.Fair to say BR Joe didn’t buy my counter-question. He wasn’t alone. I got lots of people wondering if the sole reason that Detroit is NOW rated as a hitter’s park by Park Factors is because Miguel Cabrera is so awesome. I also got lots of people saying that the dimensions of Detroit’s park have not changed so it cannot just suddenly have become a hitters park. I also got lots of people who say they KNOW Detroit is a pitcher’s park because, well, they’ve seen it.Like I say, all of these seem to fundamentally miss how Park Factors are calculated.I can’t explain all of it because, honestly, I don’t understand all of it. There are a lot of adjustments made to equalize the innings pitched and to adjust for various quirks (such as the fact that hitters do not face the pitchers on their own team). If you want to get into all that, you can work your way through the
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