Game Score for pitchers.

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Sep 30, 2013
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Has anyone ever tried using Bill James’ Game Score metric to look at SB pitchers? If you’re not familiar with it, take a look at the attachment. It’s pretty simple to compute, and its only use is to show dominant performance based on the criteria used. It never was intended as a metric to predict future success/failure, or to compare pitchers.

The attachment is for our HS baseball team for the last 8 seasons. I'd never run it before this summer, but it is fun to look at the results. It brings back memories of those games, because those games were often something pretty special. ;)

View attachment gamescore.pdf
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,168
38
New England
What's past4 - more than 4 innings? And what are the point formulas for runs?

That does look a special pitching staff, but I'm suspecting that the spreadsheet only has the best games?
 
Sep 30, 2013
415
0
What's past4 - more than 4 innings? And what are the point formulas for runs?

That does look a special pitching staff, but I'm suspecting that the spreadsheet only has the best games?

Yes, Past4 is more than 4 innings. I hadn’t thought of it before, but since the original metric was based on ML pitchers, and ML games are 9 inning games, I should probably use a number less than 4. An easy change would be to use the same percentage of innings. That would be 4 / 9 = .44 * 7 = 3.1. Using that logic, I could change the Past4 to Past3 and have the same relationship to total game innings. Thanx for the thought.

The points for runs is at the top of the page.

As for the performances shown, if you look up at the top of the page, it says those are the top 25 performances in the history of our team, which has been playing V ball for 8 years. That’s why I added the date. It really would be a killer team if they were all on the same squad. ;)
 
May 23, 2012
365
18
Eastlake, OH
Yes, Past4 is more than 4 innings. I hadn’t thought of it before, but since the original metric was based on ML pitchers, and ML games are 9 inning games, I should probably use a number less than 4. An easy change would be to use the same percentage of innings. That would be 4 / 9 = .44 * 7 = 3.1. Using that logic, I could change the Past4 to Past3 and have the same relationship to total game innings. Thanx for the thought.

Past 4 means something to Bill James in his calculation. Does past 3.1 mean the same thing in softball just because it's mathematically proportionate? Maybe so, maybe not. Just something to consider.
 
Sep 30, 2013
415
0
Past 4 means something to Bill James in his calculation. Does past 3.1 mean the same thing in softball just because it's mathematically proportionate? Maybe so, maybe not. Just something to consider.

Whether it means something is up to the observer. Me, I tend to let the math reflect the rules. When one computes ERA, just because its figured on 9 innings for MLB doesn’t mean every game length, 6 or 7 innings should be calculated on the 9 as well.

I know SB doesn’t get too concerned with pitch counts, but in baseball it’s a very important factor to consider. When Rany Jazayerli developed Pitcher Abuse Points back in 1998, he used 100 as the tipping point on which to compute the number. When some compute them for a 7 or 6 inning venue, they certainly could use 100 as well, but I never did because it didn’t make sense. For 7 inning venues I use 80 pitches because 7 innings are 77.7% of 9. I round it off to 80 to make it easier to see. For 6 inning venues which are 66.7% of 9, I use 70 pitches to trigger the computation.

The reason is, I try to keep the math in proportion to the venue. When the stat geeks dream up some new metric, they only do it for the 9 inning venue because that’s the only venue they have data to work with. In my mind, if the proportion wasn’t kept in mind, the metric wouldn’t mean a great deal.

Since most metrics I generate were thought up by someone else, I try not to guess at what the creator’s purpose way in creating that metric. I just try to make it as valid as possible for the venue I work in, which is 7 inning games. ;)
 

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