Kevin Costner explains BABIP
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posted by Women's Sports Blog An irreverent look at the news, issues, and personalities of women's sports from a feminist perspective. |
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I was watching Bull Durham for the 8.6th millionth time, and the movie reached the part where Costner is drunkenly expounding to young Tim Robbins the fact that the difference between a .250 and and a .300 hitter is one hit a week, "one dying quail, one ground ball, a ground ball with eyes..." and you've gone from Joe Schmoe to a permanent spot on a major league team. I suddenly realized it was the perfect teaching moment for why modern statisticians put a lower premium on batting average for balls in play. A ball dropping between two fielders or scooting past one who is out of position does not necessarily say a lot about the skill of the batter. Home runs, on the other hand, are fielder-independent (although not wholly independent of the skill of the pitcher or the size of the park). I suspect that the writer of Bull Durham is not in the sabermetric camp, but he unintentionally lays out a clear for one of the grounding principles of the movement.
View Original Post at ftlouie.typepad.com/womensports
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- Softball/Baseball
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