Welcome to the Baseball Authority

I won’t bore you with the details of my life. This site is about baseball. I will discuss what goes on at the big league level, whether it be transaction or performance analysis as well as keep you updated on major current events in the major leagues. I will also incorporate minor league baseball information as it is relevant at the big league level.

I will try to incorporate as many expert, third-party sources as possible. I am an avid reader of most baseball journalism websites, such as mlb.com as well as Sports Illustrated and ESPN as well as some newspapers. I am also a regular reader of Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.  I also will link up with blogs out there, whenever they have informative or fun stories to share.

I am not a major league scout, but I greatly value scouting information and will provide it whenever possible. There is no better method in evaluating young players than through scouting. I also value statistical information both at the major and minor league levels and will incorporate it as often as is useful, but I will always explain its meaning and value beforehand. I want this site to cover advanced baseball information, but I don’t want to lose anyone with overly technical measures. I’m still learning new things every day and I hope you will too.

Some in the mainstream media have tried to create a false dichotomy between the performance analysis world and the baseball world. Such dichotomies only exist in perception, but most, if not all, Major League organizations utilize statistical information and those who know how to use it well have enjoyed the benefits for many years. Those who don’t, end up like the San Francisco Giants–with no present or future. Sorry, Dodger fan through and through and it sucks to be a Giant right now.

Mostly, I will cite statistics we all know or should know, including but not limited to batting average (AVG), home runs (HR), runs batted in (RBI), on-base percentage (OB%), slugging percentage (SLG) and on-base plus slugging (OPS) for hitters, with a few other more advanced stats here and there. For pitchers, I will cite win-loss record (almost entirely out of trandition and in Cy Young discussion), earned run average (ERA), strikeout per nine innings (K/9), strikeout to walk ratio (K/BB), home run allowed per 9 innings (HR/9). Again, other statistics will be incorporated but always explained.

Lastly, I will try to bring in some objective measurements for individual and team defense. I think defense is misunderstood and all too often overlooked by the casual fan who see it as a flashy aside in the game, but don’t ever measure it as a positive or negative contribution to a pitching staff. Ryan Braun was a legendarily good rookie slugger, but his defense was off-the-charts bad. It matters.

Hopefully, you like what you see. Feel free to email or comment and I will do my best to comment back on any feedback.

Enjoy.