The Mets’ patience in waiting for Granderson’s breakout was a result of more than just Collins’ faith that his perennially slow-starting power hitter would again heat up. Though Granderson’s classically outward-facing stats such as average, OPS and home runs were all abysmal after the season’s first month, his underlying advanced metrics showed good process.
Granderson wasn’t chasing bad pitches out of the strike zone nor swinging and missing at a higher rate than usual while his exit velocity — the speed at which the ball leaves the bat — suggested regularly solid contact. His batting average on balls he put in play indicated that he was “tremendously unlucky,” Mets assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler said.
“He was really pretty good,” Roessler added, while speaking at a panel during the annual convention for the Society of American Baseball Research, SABR, which spawned the sabermetrics name for advanced use of data in the sport. “You try to use that to keep their confidence up and keep them in the right frame of mind.”
Source: SportTechie
This article has great content and I heartily recommend reading it, even if it’s not particularly a smooth-flowing piece. It touches on a variety of topics, including Jay Bruce, Tim Tebow and defensive shifts.
I enjoyed this interesting article. Thanks for posting.
Let’s not forget these are the same people who have given Rafael Montero 100 lives, played Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores everyday, and promoted Smoker simply because he’s a lefty.
From my vantage point, the people in charge of analytics are providing a net negative value, assuming they have a say in all these decisions
Not every area of the game can be quantified or projected, of course, but as Alderson said, “The key thing is making sure you don’t underestimate what you can control, and you do your damnedest to make sure that what is in your control, you do as well as possible.”
Great line!
Sandy is very good with words.