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Abstract:
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Since the advent of ball-tracking cameras in major league baseball stadiums in 2008, analysts have been attempting to quantify pitches - What is the best way to reduce the numerous variables recorded per pitch to a single number? We will survey the attempts at pitch quantification from the early pitch type linear weights (Appleman 2009) and "Stuff" (Greenhouse 2009) to the more recent Quality of Pitch (QOP - Wilson and Greiner 2010, 2015) and Quality of Pitches (Swartz 2015). Following the survey, evidence will be provided in support of the validity of the QOP statistic. To conclude, QOP will be used to provide novel insights into Major League Baseball. Topics selected will depend on how the 2016 season unfolds, but may include: (1) the pitchers who threw the top 10 pitches; (2) the effects of variation in quality of pitch by: pitch count, runners on base, and outs; (3) predicting ERA; and (4) assessing change after Tommy John surgery.
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