Baseball is one of the most statistically documented sports in the world. Every statistical outcome in baseball starts with the pitcher and the plate appearance. In baseball, it is believed that when shadows are present between the pitcher’s mound and the batter’s box, the pitcher is at an advantage. Therefore, the aim of the study was to identify if there is an advantage for pitchers pitching with shadows separating the pitcher’s mound from the batter’s box. Only games from Major League Baseball in which the shadows were present between the pitcher’s mound and batter’s box were analyzed. Analyzed variables were comprised of traditional statistical outcomes categorized as good or bad outcomes. Furthermore, good and bad outcomes were analyzed using their ordinal subcategories rated from 1 to 4. Differences between good and bad outcomes of plate appearances, when shadows were and were not present, was analyzed using a Mann-Whitney U Test. The results of the study indicate that shadows do not have a significant effect on the outcome of plate appearances. Moreover, pitchers do not have an advantage pitching while shadows are present between them and the batter’s box. Frequencies of outcomes with shadows present was much the same to outcomes without the shadows present. In conclusion, it does not appear that shadows influence the outcome of plate appearances. However, further research on statistical metrics and their effect on plate appearances is necessary.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-104253 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Ström, Martin |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för idrottsvetenskap (ID) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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