DIPS Bands

How many pitchers are better or worse than their teammates in preventing hits

By Tangotiger

The following are results of a small study I ran. It is provided with no analysis.

Note that the numbers are subject to selective sampling. Pitchers receive playing time based on their perceived or determined talent level. This determination is made, partly/mostly on the sample performance of the pitcher. Any analysis should bear this in mind.

Here is an example of how the calculations were made.

  • Greg Maddux (through 2000 I think) had an estimated 10,414 BIP. His $H is .270, while his teammates' $H (weighted by the BIP of Maddux, year-by-year), is .278.
  • I took his teammates' .278 as the "true mean", and calculated that 1 SD = sqrt(.278 x .712 / 10414) = .0044.
  • Maddux is .0080 better than his teammates. He is .0080/.0044 (1.8) SDs from the mean.
  • I did this for all pitchers, using their BIP as "n".

The following table is based on all pitchers born since 1900. The following is an explanation of each column:

  • n : number of pitchers in the subgroup
  • BIP : minimum number of BIP in the subgroup (with no overlapping with the other groups)
  • LT -1 : like the Maddux above, pitchers who were more than 1 SD away from their teammates, but on the "good" side
  • within 1 : all pitchers within 1 SD of their teammates
  • GT +1 : pitchers who were more than 1 SD away from their teammates, but on the "bad" side
  • % : next three columns are the percentages of the above three columns

n BIP LT -1 within 1 GT 1 % better 1 SD % within 1 SD % worse 1 SD
20 12800 9 8 3 45% 40% 15%
244 6400 75 134 35 31% 55% 14%
449 3200 119 267 63 27% 59% 14%
639 1600 121 410 108 19% 64% 17%
555 800 99 355 101 18% 64% 18%
540 400 67 368 105 12% 68% 19%
506 200 40 359 107 8% 71% 21%
1898 1 172 1230 496 9% 65% 26%