By Science News
The stats on fielding
Astute baseball fans know who has
the golden glove, but assigning a number to a player’s defensive merits
has been tricky. Benjamin Baumer, a statistician for the New York Mets,
suggests that new methods could offer a fuller picture (SN: 8/29/09, p. 16).
The long-used formula for measuring a player’s fielding ability doesn’t
give credit for superior range, the ability to successfully run down a
ball out of reach for most players. Baumer analyzed two methods for
getting around this problem. One worked better if it accounted for ball
hogging than if it didn’t, and another worked better in the outfield
than in the infield.