In mdlee12/sabr: Query offensive performance statistics from the 2015 Lahman MLB SQL Database

sabr

The sabr package connects the Lahman SQL Database with functions used in calculating offensive performance in the MLB, namely wOBA. Created by Tom Tango and popularized in The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, wOBA uses yearly MLB performance to weigh offensive measures relative to league value. This package offers the following capabilities:

• Retrieves the most up-to-date wOBA measures from 1871-2015
• Queries yearly and career offensive performance from the Lahman SQL database
• Calculates a player's seasonal wOBA performance

Installation:

• the latest development version from github with

  R if (packageVersion("devtools") < 1.6) { install.packages("devtools") } devtools::install_github("mdlee12/sabr")

Motivation:

wOBA is one of the best catch-all offensive performance statistics, but it's formula is a bit convoluted since it requires 1) ten distinct rate stats and 2) weighted values based on a season's run environment.

For example, the wOBA formula for the 2013 season was:

wOBA = (0.690×uBB + 0.722×HBP + 0.888×1B + 1.271×2B + 1.616×3B + 2.101×HR) / (AB + BB – IBB + SF + HBP)

Check out Fangraphs' library for additional details.

New Functions with 0.2:

• wRAA_season : Returns a MLB player's weighted Runs Above Average by yearID

library(sabr)
wRAA_season("braunry02","2015")

• wRC_season : Returns a MLB player's weighted Runs Created by yearID

wRC_season("molitpa01","1991")

• wRCp_season : Returns a MLB player's weighted Runs Created Plus by yearID

wRCp_season("yountro01","1989")

Full calculation details are in the wOBA and wRC+ calculation.Rmd file

wRCp_season makes a couple assumptions: 1. Park Factors are pulled from the Lahman Database - these are different from other sources 2. A player's primary position is used to remove pitchers from the League Runs/Plate Appearance calculation

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Key Functions from 0.1:

• battingseason : Offensive seasonal performance by playerID and yearID

battingseason("parrage01","2014")

• battingcareer : Offensive career performance by playerID by organized by season

battingcareer("fieldpr01")

• woba_season : Returns a MLB player's weighted On-Base Average by yearID

woba_season("fieldpr01","2014")

• lahman_search : Returns a player's Lahman playerID using either:
• nameFirst (Player First Name)
• nameLast (Player Last Name)
• nameGiven (Player Given Name)
• retroID (Retrosheet ID)
• bbrefID (Baseball Reference ID)

lahman_search(nameFirst = "Robin")
lahman_search(nameLast = "Fielder")
lahman_search(nameGiven = "Russell Oles")
lahman_search(retroID = "molip001")
lahman_search(bbrefID = "yostne01")

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Have a question, issue or suggestion? Create a pull request, file an issue, or feel free to contact me on Twitter or my website!

mdlee12/sabr documentation built on May 22, 2019, 3:37 p.m.