Minor League Update: A... (11/07)
3 comments have been left for this article. BP Comment Quick Links
| |
|
|
November 7, 2013 BP UnfilteredRereading Nate Silver: 4. Pitcher BreakoutsIn which Nate introduces us to his projection system's attitude toward pitchers, undoubtedly surprising many at the time if not our more modern audience. PECOTA Speaks Abstract: Nate repeats his exercise from a week earlier, using PECOTA to go over Peter Gammons’ industry-sourced “breakout” list, this time with pitchers. PECOTA, and Nate, are predictably cautious, noting that nearly every breakout candidate carries a great deal of risk, particularly those pitchers who haven’t cleared the injury Nexus. For instance, Jake Peavy’s breakout rate as a 22-year-old was 8 percent, according to PECOTA. But when Nate forced the system to age him three years, giving him all the same stats and history but declaring him 25 years old, the system tripled that breakout rate, while substantially cutting his collapse rate. Key Quote: “The Breakout scores are driven by a half-century of empirical data, and over the long run, ought to be roughly accurate; one out of five players with a Breakout score of 20% will go on to have a breakout season, and so on. PECOTA has no way to distinguish the one player from the other four; a good scout might. Scouting and statistical analysis are sometimes presented as opposing approaches to player evaluation, but there is no reason why that need be the case. Baseball has reluctantly entered the information era, and the ability of teams to use both types of analysis in concert with one another will be a key driver of success.” Joke (?) I didn’t get but that probably tells you a bit about Nate Silver: "I tested the injury nexus theory by prematurely aging Peavy by exactly three years and re-running his PECOTA projection; all of his other statistics and attributes were left intact (as a college sophomore, I tried a similar trick with a scanner and an early build of Photoshop, but without so much success)." Tables: 0 On the Nate Silver Must-Read Scale: 1
Sam Miller is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @SamMillerBB
|
Sporer Report: Is Big Erv Overvalued?
I think the joke is that he scanned a picture of himself and tried to age the photo in photoshop, no?
I have not been certified as a joke explainer though, so I may be incorrect.
Ooh, college sophomore equals 19ish years old, too young to go to bars or casinos, so it makes sense! Now the question is whether it was a joke or an honest effort recalled.
Not so much aging the photo as changing the birthdate. That's all he had to do to fool a bouncer or PECOTA.