[cgrisib]

I am currently attending West Virginia Univeristy and I am writing a term research paper on using sabermetrics to evaluate talent in baseball. I am conducting a survey for an outside feild resource, and find this website to be an excellent source of baseball minds.

My reasearch question is as follows: Is sabermetrics/ statistical date the best way to gauge a baseball player's talent?

1. Yes
2. No

Any input you might have or comments can be written in this post, and your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Kyle]

I personally don't like it... It might be a good way to go though...

[Domenic]

I voted no, but I will offer an explanation so as to, perhaps, give you a better idea for your term paper.

Sabermetrics are an excellent determining factor of a player's ability to help the team - EQA, VORP, WARP-1, etc. all give a more worthwhile peek into a player's individual worth than traditional counting stats and batting average. However, much of the determination is somewhat arbitrary - calculation of most saber stats revolve around the average player, the average amount of at-bats, etc... there is no real 'average' player, though. There are very few true five-tool talents in the game, but saber stats essentially seek that, then weight a player's production against it - I'm not a fan of this.

Personally, I find OPS to be the best gauge of a player's hitting ability and WHIP + K/BB the best indicator of a pitcher's talents. I do agree with sabermetricians with a few things - particularly that sacrifice hits are all but worthless, that ERA is a flawed statistic, and the like. However, I find that too many of their statistics are far too in-depth. A player with a higher OPS has good patience and good power - oftentimes they also have solid speed (in stretching out extra-base hits). I don't, however, mind disregarding the speed/stolen base factor... I feel that a player needs to be successful 90+% of the time swiping a bag to not be hurting the team overall. Basically, David Ortiz's 88 XBH are far greater than Reyes' 60... and the fact that Reyes stole 78 bases is hurt by the fact that he made 21 extra outs by testing the catcher's arm.

Pitchers are hard to weight - WHIP and K/BB aren't perfect, but I prefer them to most every saber-created statistic. Even pitchers that aren't predominantly known for strikeouts should be able to have enough control to have 3.5-4 K/BB... Maddux is a good example here.

I know I rambled a bit, and I sort of confused myself - but I hope that helps.

[simpleman424]

I agree with Blue here...there are just so many more things to consider and make a priority to determine a players overall talent level.

[JoeR]

No.
A good way for sure, but not the best way. It cannot measure the intangibles: heart, drive, determination, clutch performer, encouragement to the team, ability to play while hurt, etc.
Joe