Random Stats

It’s winter and this is when I end up doing most of my baseball (and other) reading. I figured I’d post some interesting tidbits from the books I’m persusing and The 2007 Bill James Handbook is full of those little fun facts and projections. For example:

The O’s hit 56.25% more homeruns at home than on the road (100 to 64).

Ramon Hernandez and the other Oriole backstops held opposing baserunners to an AL low 62% success rate on stolen bases in 2006.

Under John Dewan’s (The Fielding Bible) Plus/Minus defensive rating system (basically awards a point to a player for making a play at least one other player at his position missed and takes away a point for missing a play another player made during the season), Corey Patterson posted a +34 to lead all centerfielders in MLB. Only Adam Everett, with a +43, bested this defensive score.

That’s enough to chew on for now. I’ll provide more as I digest the book.