RESEARCH: Walk this way
Apr 16 2012
A pitcher’s ability to throw strikes and avoid issuing walks is one key to his ability to succeed. Every base runner allowed moves the opposing team closer to a run scored. At the same time, pitchers have to be able to use the edges of the strike zone or else risk giving up a lot more than one base on a pitch that catches too much of the strike zone. For this reason, pitches are not thrown right over the middle of the plate pitch after pitch. But, throwing more strikes does mean less walks, right?
Approach
The first step in understanding the relationship between throwing strikes and limiting walks is to look at the correlation between the two. For this study, all qualifying pitchers from the last ten seasons were analyzed. When we...
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