Statistical Analysis

The Crown Athletics website proudly displays individual baseball records. I’m not sure this is a good thing…people like me can go in and find fault with them.

The baseball records currently on display are up to date as of the end of the 2011 season. Most categories list career and individual season records. Will played in 2010 and 2011. If his career total for a certain category is list AND one of season totals is also listed, its easy to determine the total for the season not listed. For instance, the records show he had 43 career hits, with 28 in 2011. Using simple subtraction, that means he had 15 hits in 2010.

The 2011 statistics were compiled on the GameChanger website. The 2010 stats were kept by an assistant coach no longer affiliated with the team. I’m not sure where those statistics are now.

What raised my suspicion was the batting average category. According to these Crown records, Will batted .527 in 2011, placing him second in Crown history. His Crown career batting average is recorded as .381. This seems low, considering the .527 average. Likewise, his On Base Percentage was .603 for 2011 but only .489 career.

Using the statistics available to me, I calculated Will’s 2010 batting average. According to GameChanger, Will had 55 at bats and 68 plate appearances in 2011. Based on the rules of math, here are his statistics…

YR……H.…AB..AVG…OB..PA…OBP

2010…15…59…254…27…71…380

2011…28…54…527…41…68…603

TOT…43..113…381…68..139...489

Did Will only hit .254 in 2010? I suppose this is possible. In both years he missed the same three weeks of games while leading Living Science trips. If he played in a similar number of games, the similar number of plate appearances (71 & 68) and at bats (59 & 54) would be correct. The walks and/or hit by pitch totals (12 & 13) are also similar.

I didn’t dig out my scorebooks, but I dig search my blog for 2010 Crown recaps. Seems I did write about at least 13 hits, including two home runs. Based on my usually positive stories, it appeared Will did struggle at the plate that spring.

On a related note, it was interesting to observe the official scoring decisions at the Braves game Saturday night. In particular, when how an outfielder misplayed a ball, allowing the batter to take second or third.