Let's Compare

Does anybody still find this interesting? Apart from me, I mean?

Here's the graphs of HBP/G, ISO, SLG, and OPS presented all together. I added a different constant to each to get them to appear on the same graph. If you follow me, OPS (that's On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage) will run somewhere between .625 at the bottom and .780 at the top, while the number of Hit By Pitches per Game ranges from .125 to .389, so I added .500 to all my HBP values. Crude? Yes. Good statistics? Probably not. But who cares?

So, ah . . . what does this tell us? Well first of all, for our purposes, OPS, SLG and ISO are all equally good as indicators of a year's offensive fireworks. Apart from being different colors, all those graphs may as well be the same. And second, wow, guys are getting hit like crazy these days. Why?

Well, I guess it's a couple of different things, like those articles said. Guys are wearing all that body armor these days, so they're not afraid to get hit -- remember, batting helmets weren't even mandatory until, like, the sixties, and if you don't think that had an effect on HBP rates, you obviously don't know who Ray Chapman is. Batters are also diving out over the plate more these days, so they're more likely to get hit. So what do we do about it?

Bill James wrote that he would gradually move the batter's box four inches further away from the plate, making it both easier to hit the inside corner of the plate, but not the batter; and also making it more difficult for batters to dive out over the plate and pull an outside pitch. And that might work. But the very first thing I would do, is stop awarding first base for getting hit on armor.* Already, the umpires don't give you first if you don't make an effort to get out of the way of the pitch -- same principle.

*Except the helmet.