Any baseball fan worth his salt, or any salt, understands just how little predictive information can be gleaned from Spring Training statistics. Because of the roster shuffling and the limited sample sizes, among other things, the meaningful signal is often obscured by way too much noise.
A Romp Through The World Of Spring Training Statistics
But just because these numbers may not mean very much going forward doesn’t mean they aren’t fun to think about today. It’s March 21st. Let’s check in on some of the stats!
First things first: on a team level, there have been 172 games played in the Cactus League, and 171 games played in the Grapefruit League. The average game in Arizona has featured 11.6 combined runs. The average game in Florida has featured 9.5 combined runs. Environment: it makes a difference.
Who owns the best run differential? Why, it's the Kansas City Royals, at +48! And the worst? None other than the Florida Marlins, at -45! The Red Sox have the lowest team batting average, while the Padres have the second-best.
Now, moving to the individuals, here are the pitchers who have recorded at least ten strikeouts without issuing a single walk:
- Jered Weaver
- John Ely
- Brandon McCarthy
- Kyle Lohse
- Matt Albers
- A.J. Burnett
- Greg Burke
Meanwhile, a selection of pitchers with more walks than strikeouts:
- Barry Zito
- Matt Garza
- Scott Kazmir
- Joey Devine
- J.A. Happ
And some assorted pitching fun facts:
- Baltimore's Wynn Pelzer has drilled four batters in 3.2 innings
- Carlos Silva leads the league with 26 runs allowed. Three pitchers are tied for second place, with 18
- Darren O'Day has allowed five home runs in seven innings
- Mike Hampton is still playing
Moving to the hitters, let’s just stick with the fun facts approach:
- Pedro Alvarez has one walk and 19 strikeouts
- Ryan Theriot has eight walks and one strikeout
- Chris Carter has 12 walks and ten strikeouts
- Jake Fox has seven home runs
- Darren Ford leads the league with nine steals despite having just four hits and two walks
- Ben Paulsen has four triples
- Justin Upton has been caught stealing five times
- Engel Beltre is 0-17
- Four batters have drawn intentional walks
- Ivan De Jesus has hit into five double plays in just 33 at bats
Spring Training statistics are not to be mined for science, but they’re there to be mined for fun. Live a little!
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