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Enhancements
There were several enhancements made to the system since the publication of The Fielding Bible in February, 2006. Here’s a summary:
- The system for outfielders was modified to count all batted balls hit within about five feet as the same location. This generally resulted in more extreme (higher and lower) plus/minus figures for outfielders. All years were restated.
- Also for outfielders: we added a new category called a “fliner.” Prior to last year we categorized balls hit in the air as a fly or a liner. But, as baseball fans know, there are a lot of balls hit in the air that are in between. We call them fliners, and using this new category we are able to get better precision. This was implemented for 2006.
- For balls hit in the air in the infield (pop-ups and line drives), all batted balls within about three feet count as the same location. Again, all years were restated for the “air” component of infielders’ plus/minus.
- For all positions: the vector system was changed to polar coordinates. Previously we used about 260 vectors in the field of play. Starting in 2006, we have a system using 90 vectors in the field of play. This allows us to use the standard 360 degree circle to measure all batted balls including foul balls hit anywhere on the field.
- Over the years we have reviewed several other possible enhancements, such as using multi-year data as a basis to calculate an individual year. Other than the three mentioned above, however, none of them provided any improvement in the system and were discarded.
We plan to review, and hope to improve, the system as we go forward. And we anticipate
publishing an updated Fielding Bible in the next year or two.
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