Boyd's World-> Breadcrumbs Back to Omaha-> Revisiting Normal

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Revisiting Normal

Three years ago, I took a look at what the average performance was statistically on both sides of the ball. This week, I want to revisit that subject and see how things have changed. Once again, I'm going to normalize things to a 54-game season for the hitters and 90 IP for the pitchers. We'll start off with the hitters:

Year  AVG   OBP   SLG   AB    R     H     2B    3B    HR    RBI   TB    BB    HBP   SO    GIDP  SF    SH    SB    ATT  

2003 0.289 0.370 0.423 198.1  36.1  57.3  10.8  1.3   4.3   32.2  83.8  21.2  5.5   37.7  3.3   2.4   3.3   6.8   9.4
2006 0.290 0.372 0.415 203.8  36.7  59.2  10.7  1.4   4.1   32.8  84.9  21.8  6.1   37.6  3.5   2.4   4.1   6.8   9.5  

Overall, things haven't changed much, in contrast to the big bat-related changes of the turn of the century. Power is down a bit, walks are up a bit, and bunting is up significantly. As an aside that drew more attention than I expected last time, here's the most nearly average hitter from last season:

Year  Team      Player       AVG  GP  GS  AB   R   H   2B  3B HR RBI TB   SLG  BB  HBP SO GDP  OBP  SF SH SB  ATT
2006  Portland  Sean Nicol  .303  49  46  201  34  61  11  1  4  26  86  .428  18  2   35  2  .363  2  4  5   11

Remember, in case you're Nicol's mom (it's always the moms that write me; I don't know why), that average is not a pejorative in this case. There's a good bit of value in average performance to a team.

Now, the pitchers:

Year  ERA   H     R     ER    BB    SO    2B    3B    HR    AB    WP    HBP   BK   

2003 5.20  95.7  61.0  48.9  35.7  62.3  18.0  2.3   7.2   331.0  8.0   9.1   1.9
2006 5.15 102.8  63.6  51.5  37.9  65.6  18.5  2.4   7.0   355.7  8.1  10.5   1.7

On the other hand, the shape of the pitching performances has changed a good bit. Strikeouts are up and walks are down. However, hits allowed are up, so scoring is down a hair but not as much as you'd expect from the TTO numbers. Combining that fact with the increase of unearned runs, and it appears that we may be in a defensive dry spell which is being offset a bit by improved pitching. Interesting how things interact some times.

Mr. Average:

Year  Team    Player         ERA   W  L  APP GS  IP    H   R   ER  BB  SO  2B  3B HR AB   HBP BK
2006  Xavier  Michael Lucas  4.79  2  8  17  15 92.0  103  59  49  35  71  20  2  5  367  15  2

Boyd's World-> Breadcrumbs Back to Omaha-> Revisiting Normal

About the author, Boyd Nation