AFJF Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 I keep hearing people say a player is just lucky or unlucky based on their BABIP. I recall a discussion a while back in which one of our know it all posters said Randy Johnson didn't suck and his BABIP proved it. Explain to me how the fact that a guy's fastball isn't fast and his slider does't slide means instead of slow ground balls or strikeouts that the guy is allowing scorching doubles in the gap and line drives through the infiled makes him "unlucky". By that logic, there's no such thing as a bad pitcher, just unlucky ones. Does this mean that guys like Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn were just lucky because they could put the ball where they wanted it and were more likely to have a high BABIP so in reality they weren't that good at all? Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyHector Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 The value in BABIP is when you use it as a relative measure to the pitcher's recent BABIP numbers, not as an absolute. If a guy consistently has a .400 BABIP, then he just flat out sucks. If a guy's BABIP jumps 100 points above his career average (and his previous season was around his career number), he either fell off a cliff, or was extremely unlucky that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFSIKH Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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