(A. Kotok)
Neurologists and statisticians at Vanderbilt University in Nashville tested a statistical model for the 2012 season that predicted major league baseball (MLB) players’ batting judgment degrades over the course of the long season. The team led by Scott Kutscher, neurology professor at Vanderbilt, will present its findings next week at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Baltimore.
Kutscher and colleagues took data from the FanGraphs baseball statistics database for 2012 to test the hypothesis that hitters tend to swing more often at bad pitches as the 162-game season progresses, and the effects of extended travel and few days-off take their toll. The statistical model, based on data from the 2006 to 2011 seasons, showed a decline in strike-zone judgments for each month. In 2005, MLB banned stimulants, which the authors say may have exacerbated the trend.
The researchers tracked the frequency of MLB players swinging at pitches outside the strike zone during the 2012 season, and compiled the results for each of the 30 teams in each month of the season. The research team then compared the data to the statistical model, as well as between games played in April and those played in September.
For 24 of the 30 teams, says Kutcher, strike-zone judgment was significantly worse in September than in April, thus supporting the statistical model and its predictive value. The findings, he reports, were consistent throughout the league, and applied to both East and West Coast teams.
Kutscher recommends teams do a better job at alleviating the effects of fatigue on players. A compelling argument for this recommendation, he notes, is the San Francisco Giants, which was one of the only teams to have their players improve their batting judgments during 2012. The Giants also went on the win the World Series.
Read more:
- Lighting Devised to Help Shift Workers Regulate Body Clocks
- iPhone App Tells Best and Worst Times for Coffee
- Fatigue, Poor Sleep Linked to EMS Safety, Work Quality
- Insomnia Costs U.S. Employers Billions in Lost Productivity
* * *
RSS - Posts