RosterResource’s MiLB Power Rankings were first developed in 2015 and have been displayed on the team depth charts ever since. Given that those depth charts feature a section called “Minor Leaguers You Should Know,” it was important that I come up with a formula that would allow me to identify the players having the best statistical seasons, with age and level integral factors.

Having the rankings visible on the depth charts has been a helpful feature, but I have often been asked by readers for a link to a non-existent leaderboard. If you’ve asked me about it, I’m sure I said something to the effect of, “We don’t have one right now. It’s at the top of my wish list. Hopefully in the near future.”

Well, I’m happy to announce that the day has finally arrived. RosterResource’s MiLB Power Rankings Leaderboard is here. And, thanks to Sean Dolinar and Keaton Arneson, it is spectacular.

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Sabermetrics, Scouting, and the Science of Baseball is a charity conference that blends science, insider knowledge, and groundbreaking sabermetrics research. Attendees will hear over 20 research presentations about the science and statistics behind the game. Learn from MLB insiders like Chicago White Sox Pitching Coach Ethan Katz, Cubs Assistant GM Eshan Bokhari, and Brewers VP of Research and Innovation Dan Turkenkopf. The conference will be held August 12-13 at the Hermann Hall Conference Center at Illinois Tech in Chicago.

FanGraphs has been a supporter of Saberseminar for over 10 years and several members of our staff will be in attendance. And remember, it’s all for a great cause – 100% of the conference’s ticket proceeds directly support the Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation.

For tickets, details, and speaker information, please visit saberseminar.com.

We are currently in the process of updating our leaderboards interface. As part of this update, we have already released a quick leaderboard interface in our app, and we are now focusing on developing a modern, mobile-friendly web version of the complete leaderboards.

Just like when we made changes to our player pages, the upcoming modifications to the leaderboards will involve underlying HTML changes that could impact any data analysis tools you have built. To address this, we have created a legacy version of the page, which will remain accessible via a direct URL until the end of the 2023 season. Please note that normal navigation or parameter changes may not work as expected on the legacy page. Its purpose is to allow users to replace the URL in their tool and continue functioning until they have a chance to make any necessary adjustments. Read the rest of this entry »

We are excited to introduce Quick Leaderboards – an intuitive, mobile-friendly interface for accessing our major league leaderboards. With this new addition, you can now easily explore and find leaders for various statistics through a list-based interface. Our goal is to provide a seamless experience that closely reflects the web version’s robust leaderboards within our app. Our future plans are to further develop leaderboards in the app to closely match the functionality of the web version.

To access the app and enjoy these new features, simply download it here:

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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.

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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.

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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 »