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Baseball Broken Down Into Numbers

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Submitted By boogelee
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DeVry University
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Pomona, California

Baseball Broken Down into Numbers

Baseball Numbers 1
Did you know that baseball was being played before the American Civil War? Baseball is one of America’s greatest pastimes. This sport is highly valued because unlike other sports it doesn’t require a specific height or weight. This is very rare to find in a sport because weight and height affect the whole game in other sports. Baseball has many great statistical aspects.
One of these great statistical aspects is batting average. A player can have the worst batting average and still be considered a legend. For example, a player can hit with a .220 batting average, but still be considered an excellent ball player due to their playmaking defensively. Although batting is important being a well-rounded player is a concept that is valued higher. Can you believe that a batter can strike out at the plate multiple times and still be considered to be a great player?
Pitching is a big part of baseball. Pitching is an aspect of baseball that determines if a team wins or loses. It is very difficult challenging to pitch and hit pitches. Throwing pitches is challenging due to the amount of skill needed to pitch. A pitcher will need to be able to throw a variety of pitches ranging from fastballs to change-ups. Hitting them is, in my opinion, even more difficult to accomplish. I believe that this is difficult because a batter needs to be able to time the pitch just right in order to make contact and possibly score a home run. Batters need timing, speed in their swing and power in order to be a good batter.
Pitching is one of the hardest concepts in baseball to perform. The pitcher needs to be able to make decisions in milliseconds on whether to throw a 90 mile an hour fastball or a 60 mile an hour changeup. This decision can be the best decision or the worst decision for a pitcher. This decision is crucial for pitchers because it may determine if the pitchers team wins the game or not. Pitchers carry some of the greatest power and accurateness in sports.
Baseball Numbers 2
Clayton Kershaw (pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers) threw 232 strikeouts in his 33 games played last season. Out of all the pitches he threw 14% of them were strikeouts. As you can see this percentage may seem low, but in reality its quite high. If you think about it he struck out 232 batters in 33 games. 232 batters is a lot if you think about it especially if you think how many total pitches that took. Kershaw has won awards for his remarkable performances and continues to achieve amazing records.
Batting is well known by Matt Kemp. Matt Kemp is a centerfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has many accomplishments including player of the year which he earned in 2011. He also is known as the 11th fastest to join the 30/30 club and ended with 39 home runs that season. He has an amazing record and is always making himself known to the baseball world by performing at an extremely high level of play. He maintained a .324 batting average during the 2011 season. He clearly knows how the concept of batting works.
Batting average is very simple to calculate. You would divide the number of hits by the number of at bats and that would give you the batting average. For example if I were to have 20 hits and have 35 at bats my batting average would be .571. Of course this is nowhere near the major leagues numbers in at bats and hits, but still that would be the calculation to figure out a batting average. Batting averages show how well a player is at batting and clearly show whether you need practice or not.
Of course defense in baseball is crucial. Defense is key in baseball for having a well-rounded team. If you have a good defense, then the team will be eligible for more at bats. It would allow for the offense to strike and score runs. A strong defense in baseball is necessary for all teams to have because

Baseball Numbers 3
Without a defense the other team would score runs all day long. Defense in baseball has its own set of equations for players. Fielding is an extremely important concept of defense in baseball. Fielding is important because if you don’t field the ball, then how do you expect to keep the other team from scoring? There is a fielding equation to represent how defensive players turn hit ball into outs. There are actually many equations to breaking defense down into numbers. Fielding average is calculated through this equation putouts+assists divided by putouts+assists+errors.This equation is the most popular equation used in modern times to calculate the fielding opportunities taken by each player. It is said that defenses win games and in this case I strongly believe that this statement is true. I feel this way because if a defense fails, then the offense fails as well. The offense fails because it won’t have the chance to have play because of the defense not allowing it time. The defense would be allowing for the other team’s offense to continuously be at the plate allowing a higher chance for the other team to score. A solid defense is required to have in baseball. Baseball bats are also controversy in baseball. Players can use many different bats with many different feels. This can range from one piece aluminum or two piece composite. These metal bats would be eligible for high school and collegiate play not major league. In the major leagues players are able to choose from 32 bat companies for their bats the most popular being Louisville Slugger. In recent research Louisville Slugger is becoming less popular and Mariucci bats are becoming the wanted bat to have. Some players say it’s just the way the bat feels to them that they have to keep in consideration. This is completely understandable because if the player doesn’t feel comfortable with the bat he has, then he is not going to perform as well as if he had a bat he felt more comfortable with.

Baseball Numbers 4
As you can see baseball has many aspects that involve numbers. Baseball is a game of numbers. Some type of math is being used in baseball continuously. Baseball is a sport that can’t thrive without numbers. Without numbers baseball couldn’t be the game it’s known as today. Baseball is one of the best sports to be involved. It has a lot of math and statistical characteristics that make the game fun. These numbers don’t make the game boring or not fun they make the game more intense and more incredible to play. Baseball wouldn’t be nearly as challenging if the numbers didn't exist in the game. Baseball will continue to thrive and empower people with knowledge of mathematics and entertain them as well.

References

The U.S. Department of State. (2007). Baseball in America: A History. Retrieved April 8, 2014 http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0875086.html Joe Hanson PH.D. (2012). The Physics of Baseball Pitches. It’s ok to be Smart.
Retrieved April 8, 2014 http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/49793628113/the-physics-of-baseball-pitches-five-ounces-of Think Factory. (2014). 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers Batting, Pitching, and Fielding Statistics.
Baseball Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2011 http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAD/2013.shtml Erik Stephen. (2011). Matt Kemp captures player of the year honor from Baseball America. los angeles.sbnation.com. Retrieved April 9, 2014 http://losangeles.sbnation.com/los-angeles-dodgers/2011/10/13/2488545/matt-kemp-baseball-america-player-of-the-year Elias Sports Bureau. (2014). Matt Kemp Stats. ESPN MLB. Retrieved April 10, 2014 http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/28476/matt-kemp Baseball Almanac Family. (200-2014). Defensive Stats 101. Baseball Almanac.
Retrieved April 10, 2014
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/stats3.shtml

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