Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Baseball Reference

Baseball Reference - 2005 Stats Available

As pointed out by King Ryan, Baseball Reference now has 2005 stats available. Yes, I'm excited by this. Yes, I am a geek.

One of my favourite things about BBRef (and there's a ton) is their Similar Batters through Age xx for each player. While it likely does not have as much predictive value as PECOTA comps, they're interesting nonetheless.

Here's the Similar Batters through Age xx for the Jays (with age in brackets):

 C Gregg Zaun (34)        - Greg Myers
1B Eric Hinske (27)       - Larry Hisle
2B Orlando Hudson (27)    - Ron Belliard
3B Corey Koskie (32)      - Chris Sabo
SS Russ Adams (24)        - Orlando Cabrera
LF Frank Catalanotto (31) - Shane Mack
CF Vernon Wells (26)      - Ellis Valentine
RF Alexis Rios  (24)      - Terry Moore
DH Shea Hillenbrand (29)  - Bernard Gilkey

OF Reed Johnson (28)      - Milt Byrnes
IF Frank Menechino (34)   - Mike Mordecai

SP Gus Chacin (24)        - Rick Waits
SP Josh Towers (28)       - Rodrigo Lopez
SP Ted Lilly (29)         - Carl Fischer
SP Roy Halladay (28)      - Pat Malone
SP Dave Bush (25)         - Tex Carleton

CL Miguel Batista (34)    - Dave Weathers
RP Scott Schoenweis (31)  - Scott Bailes
RP Jason Frasor (27)      - Jerry Dipoto
RP Justin Speier (31)     - Tim Crabtree
RP Vinnie Chulk (26)      - Grant Roberts
RP Scott Downs (29)       - Art Ceccarelli
RP Pete Walker (36)       - Vicente Palacios
RP Matt Whiteside (37)    - Scott Service

Some interesting names on here. Jays fans will be all too familar with Greg Myers, Larry Hisle, and Tim Crabtree.

Shane Mack? Jerry Dipoto? Scott Bailes? The 80's/early 90's baseball fan in me is smiling.

Vernon Wells has a very interesting list of players including Valentine, Bobby Murcer, Andre Dawson, Shawn Green, Billy Williams, and Ellis Burks. Having grown up watching both Valentine and Dawson, I don't think Wells is much like either of these guys. Terry Moore was the heart and soul of the early 40's Cardinals, one of baseball's forgotten dynasties. I don't think the comparison is apt.

On the other side of things, I think Roy Halladay will have a much better career than Pat Malone, a star pitcher in the 30s for the Cubs and Yankees who is now largely forgotten.

The largest claim to fame Rick Waits has might be that he was traded for Gaylord Perry. Waits was a valuable inning eater for the Indians during the mid-late 70's. Robinson and Torborg's overuse ended up shredding his arm. I hope Arnsberg doesn't allow that to happen, though Arnsberg was once a pitching coach for Torborg.

Anything jump out at the Bauxites?

Posted by Pepper Moffatt on Monday, October 10 2005 @ 04:55 PM EDT.

Baseball Reference - 2005 Stats Available | 8 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

King Ryan - Monday, October 10 2005 @ 06:18 PM EDT (#129941) #

I love how Roy Halladay led the AL in Complete Games despite not pitching after June.

Rob - Monday, October 10 2005 @ 07:57 PM EDT (#129946) #

Things that jump out:

Lowest ERA on Blue Jays, 2002-2005: Halladay, Halladay, Lilly...Towers??

This is the first time in Cat's three years with the team that he's listed among the outfield starters. Somehow, Hill gets the DH spot over Hillenbrand. Keeping with Cat, I didn't even know that he outhit Hillenbrand.

GQ's 2004 is very similar to his 2005.

Only four pitchers batted in 2005. By comparison, 8 did in 2004.

Halladay was well on the way to his best season ever. His ERA+ of 184 would have led the league easily (Santana, 153).

Toronto used only two first basemen and three players at each of the corner OF spots. Again, by comparison, 2004 saw six 1B, seven LF, five RF.

Seattle had two of the three oldest players in the AL.

John Northey - Monday, October 10 2005 @ 08:44 PM EDT (#129947) #

Interesting looking at the Jays.

Just 3 hitters outside of the starting 9 had 100+ AB's. 7 guys did in 2004, 6 in 03, 7 in 02. Seems the Jays were _very_ stable.

Chacin wins the 'golden bat' for pitchers with his one sac bunt (the only pitcher to get one), 1 run scored (the only pitcher to score a run, no one drove one in), and made contact 5 out of 7 times (next best is Towers at 4 for 6).

Just 5 guys had 100+ IP this year. Huh. That surprised me. Downs finished at 94, Walker at 84. 9 guys started a game of which 5 had a 100+ ERA+ and 4 were below 100, although Bush was at 99. The team was at 110 ERA+ the best since 2001 when 4 of the 5 regular relievers were over 125 (!) with the 5th being the closer, Billy Koch at 99.

Fielding - just Hinske and Hillenbrand played first? Could've sworn they mixed Hill or someone else in there but I guess not. Reed Johnson was the #2 guy (out of 3) at each of the 3 outfield positions for playing time. Gabe Gross being #3 at 2 while Rios was the 3rd guy in Center. When did Menechino sneak those 2 innings in at short anyways?

Btw, for those Aaron Hill fans, it is $100 to sponsor his page at the moment.

Craig B - Tuesday, October 11 2005 @ 10:00 AM EDT (#129964) #

Strikeouts in the American League were at their lowest levels since 1995. Strikeouts in the National League were at their lowest levels since 1994.

Walks in the National League were at their lowest level since 1994. Walks in the American League were at their lowest level since 1911. Yes. The deadball era.

I find all of that extremely interesting.

The profile of successful pitchers is changing. Ever so slowly, ever so minutely. The strikeout is losing ground as the "OBP generation" gains traction; the walk is losing ground as managers realize the importance of throwing strikes and using your fielders.

Dinosaurs like sportswriters, who like to talk about numbers without ever understanding what they mean, and don't ever pay attention to the games that are played right in front of them, like to say that baseball today is all about walking around the bases and waiting for home runs to happen. The numbers are revealing something far more interesting.

(By the way, in these days of interleague play, a league's pitching and hitting accounts don't balance. I used hitters' numbers above - the AL's walk numbers were even lower for AL pitchers).

Mike Green - Tuesday, October 11 2005 @ 10:08 AM EDT (#129966) #

That is fascinating, Craig. Somehow, I don't imagine we'll be seeing a headline in any of the local papers, "walks at lowest level in AL since deadball era". Dave Bush, Shaun Marcum, Josh Towers, Casey Janssen, your timing is impeccable.

Alex0888 - Tuesday, October 11 2005 @ 09:26 PM EDT (#129988) #

The 2 oldest players in the Majors, both in the NL both have the last name Franco and the first initial J. (Julio, John)

Mick Doherty - Tuesday, October 11 2005 @ 11:34 PM EDT (#129989) #

I know Alex Rios has that "upside" thing hanging over his head, but I have to believe if you offered him his BBRef most-similar's career line (Terry Moore, .280, 80 homers, 82 steals, four All-Star appearances in 11 seasons), he'd take it like, *right now* ... and so would JP, Keith and the gang upstairs.

AWeb - Wednesday, October 12 2005 @ 12:31 AM EDT (#129991) #

Things I noticed:

As the ridiculous contracts of the early 00's wind down, 6 of the top 10 paid players in the NL, Bonds, Bagwell, Jones (Chipper), Hampton, Dreifort (or was he healthy all year?) and Thome missed significant time. In the AL, Sosa, Brown, Schilling all missed quite a bit of time, and were terrible when they didn't. It's easy to see why some GM's blanche at the thought of handing out these types of contracts.

Carlos Silva shattered the modern walks/9 innings record, at .43; the old record was .616, from 1920. Which fits with what Craig noted about overall walks being at all-time lows.

Bonds, Ruth, and Aaron all had over 500 homers after the age of 28. If Andruw Jones hits that many, he'll end up around 800. If Rodriguez does, he'll push 900. But he'll still be ragged on for that year he stunk in the playoffs.

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