With the pitch clock and a slew of other rule changes now in effect in the majors, we’ve added a section to the leaderboards dedicated to tracking all manner of rule violations and their run values.

Some important notes:

– The violations include Pitcher Pitch Timer Violations, Catcher Pitch Timer Violations, Disengagement Violations, Defensive Shift Violations, Batter Pitch Timer Violations, and Batter Timeout Violations. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m happy to announce that we now have two pitch quality models, PitchingBot and Stuff+, available for your perusal on the FanGraphs Leaderboards.

PitchingBot is the brainchild of Cameron Grove. We worked with Cameron to be able to run and maintain his model in-house at FanGraphs; he has since joined an MLB front office. You can read all about PitchingBot in the FanGraphs Library here.

In short, PitchingBot takes inputs such as pitcher handedness, batter handedness, strike zone height, count, velocity, spin rate, movement, release point, extension, and location to determine the quality of a pitch, as well as its possible outcomes. Those outcomes are then aggregated and normalized on a 20-80 scouting scale, which is what is displayed on the leaderboards. Read the rest of this entry »

The FanGraphs 2023 Playoff Odds are now available on the site. As a reminder, here’s what each column represents in the current 12-team playoff structure:

• Win Div: The probability the team wins their division.
• Clinch Bye: The probability that the team wins their division and is one of the top two seeds in their league, thus earning a Wild Card Series bye.
• Clinch Wild Card: The probability the team qualifies for the playoffs through a Wild Card berth.
• Make Playoffs: The sum of Win Div + Clinch Wild Card, indicating the probability that the team qualifies for the playoff in any capacity.
• Make LDS (Postseason section): The probability the team wins the Wild Card Series or earns a bye.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re excited to announce that Negro Leagues data is now available on the FanGraphs player pages and leaderboards! In addition, Negro Leagues players now have FanGraphs player pages. All data is provided by The Seamheads Negro Leagues Database powered by Agate Type Research. Special thanks are due to Gary Ashwill and Kevin Johnson for their assistance as we incorporated the data into the site.

The seven Black baseball leagues included in our data mirror those at Baseball Reference and are consistent with the recommendations of SABR’s Negro Leagues Task Force and Major League Baseball’s announcement recognizing these leagues as being major leagues.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s your chance to vote for the 2023 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards winners.

The SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards will recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the preceding calendar year. Nominations were solicited by representatives from SABR, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, and Sports Info Solutions.

To read any of the finalists, click on the link below. Scroll down to cast your vote.

Contemporary Baseball Analysis

• Lindsey Adler, “Why the Yankees pitching staff is embracing a new slider and how the ‘whirly’ is different from a traditional slider,” The Athletic, April 4, 2022.
• Michael Ajeto, “We’re Talking About Seam-Shifted Wake Wrong,” Baseball Prospectus, May 17, 2022.
• Davy Andrews, “Steven Kwan, Geraldo Perdomo, and The Victor Robles Problem,” FanGraphs, December 19, 2022.
• Ben Clemens, “How Good Are Those Probabilities on the Apple TV+ Broadcasts?” FanGraphs, May 26, 2022.
• Ethan Rendon, Elijah Emery, Will Sugar and Tieran Alexander, “The Mystic Art of Pitch Tunneling,” Prospects Live, August 23, 2022.

Contemporary Baseball Commentary

• Michael Baumann, “The Playoffs Aren’t Too Big. The League Is Way Too Small,” FanGraphs, October 4, 2022.
• Zach Crizer, “The Phillies are Dave Dombrowski’s 5th World Series Team. Should More Teams Play His Version of Moneyball?” Yahoo! Sports, October 31, 2022.
• Patrick Dubuque, “One Step Behind,” Baseball Prospectus, October 3, 2022.
• Hannah Keyser, “MLB lockout: There’s no way to force team owners to put wins over dollars,” Yahoo! Sports, February 16, 2022.
• Ginny Searle, “So Do Not Become Proud, But Fear,” Baseball Prospectus, June 7, 2022.

Historical Baseball Analysis/Commentary

• Donna L. Halper, “Marvels or Menaces: How the Press Covered ‘The Lady Baseballists,’ 1865-1915,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Spring 2022.
• Jerry Nechal, “Were Pitchers More Likely to Throw at Black Batters? 1947–66,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Fall 2022.
• Marc Normandin, “1994 Explains What ‘Labor Peace’ Never Could,” Baseball Prospectus, February 28, 2022.
• Mike Petriello, “How many games would Springfield’s ringers win?” MLB.com, February 19, 2022.
• Leander Schaerlaeckens, “The Forgotten Men Behind The Ideas That Changed Baseball,” Defector, November 14, 2022.

John Dewan Defensive Analytics Award

• Russell A. Carleton, “So You’ve Decided to Ban the Shift,” Baseball Prospectus, March 9, 2022.
• Justin Choi, “The Blue Jays Make A Big Shift In Making Big Shifts,” FanGraphs, May 11, 2022.
• Alex Eisert, “More Than a Putout Puzzle: Revisiting the Problem of Outfield Alignment,” FanGraphs, December 5, 2022.

Voting will be open through 11:59 p.m. MST on Friday, February 10, 2023.

Create your own user feedback survey

Mobile or Safari users, click here to access the survey

Results will be announced and presented at the SABR Analytics Conference, March 10-12, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. Learn more or register for the conference at SABR.org/analytics.

The offseason drama is pretty much over, which means that we’ve reached the least eventful part of the year for the most diehard baseball fans. Still, as we count down the days until the start of spring training — pitchers and catchers participating in the World Baseball Classic will report to their respective camps no later than February 13 — we can at least anticipate the remaining free agents finding a landing spot, as well as announcements of each team’s list of NRIs (non-roster invitees to big league camp). And, if we’re lucky, maybe a big trade or two will go down.

Whatever happens, our Opening Day Tracker will be continue to be updated with a list of every player who will report to a major league camp, as well as their projected roster status.

Here’s a quick primer on who will be in major league camp, what happens as rosters are pared down to 26 players, and how our tracker can help you keep up between now and Opening Day. Read the rest of this entry »

The RosterResource Depth Charts and Payroll pages are officially in offseason mode, meaning that all free agents have been removed from their 2022 teams and a projected 26-man roster for Opening Day 2023 is displayed. Additionally, our Free Agent Tracker, Offseason Transaction Tracker, Injury Report, and Closer Depth Chart are also live.

As roster moves occur and news is reported, each feature will be updated almost immediately. Here’s an explanation of these very important offseason features.

Roster/Depth Chart

These visual interpretations of each team’s projected roster and organizational depth are always updated to reflect the latest news around the league. It’s important to note that the offseason pages project an Opening Day roster. Once we incorporate 2023 statistical projections — you can always see the latest here and here — you will notice that certain players currently listed in the Minor League section have a significant amount of projected playing time and are expected to play an integral role during the upcoming season. The same goes for players who are on the Projected Injured List or, in the case of Fernando Tatis Jr., on the Restricted List for the first 20 games of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

When we released the new FanGraphs app in August, we asked users to tell us which features they wanted to see next. The overwhelming response was to add both articles and leaderboards. We’re still working on how best to integrate the leaderboards, but as of today, we’ve added editorial content to the app. (If you are currently reading this on the app, you might already know all of this!)

If you haven’t already, you can download the app here:

Specifically, we’ve added or updated the following:

• The ability to view our articles on the app.
• A home screen layout that closely reflects the FanGraphs web homepage.
• A blog roll that closely reflects the FanGraphs web blog roll.
• Customization features for Members.

Read the rest of this entry »

In May, we put out an open call for contributing writers, and the response we received was overwhelming. We are very grateful that so many smart, passionate baseball writers wanted to be a part of what we do here. It made for some really difficult decisions (and a rather long hiring process), but we are very excited to welcome some talented new voices to our ranks.

A quick note to those who applied but weren’t hired: please keep writing. A number of people who have worked for the site weren’t hired on their first go but kept getting reps elsewhere on their way to making us regret having passed them by initially. Just because there wasn’t a home for you at FanGraphs this time around doesn’t mean that there won’t be one later, and in the meantime, public baseball analysis will be made better by your good words and good work.

And so, without further ado, allow me to introduce the writers whose work will soon be debuting here at the site. Read the rest of this entry »

Greetings, friends and readers.

My name is Michael Baumann, and I’m the newest full-time member of the FanGraphs staff. If the name rings a bell, it’s probably because you remember the losing pitcher in the first game of Monday’s Orioles-Blue Jays doubleheader. Unfortunately that’s a different, much taller Mike Baumann. (Though I’ve met Big Mike, and he seems like a nice guy. What a fastball he’s got.)

From 2016 until last week, I was a staff writer at The Ringer, where for six years I hosted The Ringer MLB Show. Before that, I worked at D1Baseball, Baseball Prospectus, and Grantland. Over that time I’ve appeared periodically on both FanGraphs Audio and Effectively Wild; if you remember some joker with a Philly accent explaining to Ben how hockey works or ranting at Meg about the lockout, that was probably me. I’m an Aries, and in my free time I enjoy cooking, watching TikToks about seals, and reading nonfiction books about people doing ludicrously dangerous things in the early 20th century. Read the rest of this entry »