Launch Angles, Crooked Sticks and Baseball Bats _ A Rant

[Peter_Spaeth]

The Fangraphs dudes lost me at BABIP.

[CollectingAmericasPastime]

Not true that the ball in golf is always stationary when struck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW084qWwhV4

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The Fangraphs dudes lost me at BABIP.

Was that right before BADABING (Batting Average During A Break In Non-Division Games)?

[celoknob]

As a play by play tool presented on tv, I don't think providing launch angle, exit velocity, spin etc for any particular play is particularly useful.

I think it is useful when applied statistically. Large sample sizes can tease out temporal trends or correlations that may be hidden in more traditional statistics. I think this is true for hitting, pitching and defense. How does a guy's spin rate change after an injury or when he is fatigued? Is this guy's decline in offensive production due to bad luck or a decline in how hard or high he hits the ball? The speed, launch angle and location of a batted ball also help evaluate fielding. And I know that teams are asking questions much more creative than this. Of course there are flaws and I'm sure it can be over-analyzed, but I think any team that is not heavily using this kind of data is handicapping themselves.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by celoknob

As a play by play tool presented on tv, I don't think providing launch angle, exit velocity, spin etc for any particular play is particularly useful.

I think it is useful when applied statistically. Large sample sizes can tease out temporal trends or correlations that may be hidden in more traditional statistics. I think this is true for hitting, pitching and defense. How does a guy's spin rate change after an injury or when he is fatigued? Is this guy's decline in offensive production due to bad luck or a decline in how hard or high he hits the ball? The speed, launch angle and location of a batted ball also help evaluate fielding. And I know that teams are asking questions much more creative than this. Of course there are flaws and I'm sure it can be over-analyzed, but I think any team that is not heavily using this kind of data is handicapping themselves.

Perhaps, but if your big stick Oscar is hitting 50 dingers annually for several years and then injures his wiener and his production drops to a 20/year level,
you know something is wrong. You analyze his launch angle before and after the injury and have an aha moment noting the reduction of his angle.

So then what. He's due up in the ninth facing a flamethrower. Does the manager then lean over to Mr. Mayer and say, "Oscar increase your launch angle", or does he hand him a new pitching wedge.