Web based PITCHf/x tool help/comment page
Here is the help/comment page for the web based PITCHf/x tool. If you have any comments please add them to the bottom of this post.
First, let me just make sure everyone is aware of what the PITCHf/x system is. PITCHf/x by sportvision is a system of tracking the ball as it travels to home plate with two cameras. The cameras take a bunch of pictures of the ball in flight and then sends the data to MLB who puts it online for users to see. The data is in a messy form and needs corrections and pitch classifications before the data can really be used. That is why I made the web based tool for anyone to use.
So the first few things the tool will ask you for are simple things like the name of the pitcher and batter. The only restriction is you must put in either a pitcher or a batter (or put in both). Sadly, less than a quarter of all pitches were tracked this year so if you put in certain pitcher/batter match ups it will come back with no results. If that happens please try again.
After you have entered the pitcher/batter it will ask you for the type of pitch, the result of the pitch, and the count. When you start try leaving these blank to see what a certain pitcher throws then you can go back and focus on only one type of pitch for instance. If you feel a certain pitcher stuff isn't being represented correctly please comment below.
Next, options are available to cut on things like pitch speed, and horizontal and vertical movement. All horizontal measurements have negative numbers as moving in towards a right handed batter. Speed is measured in MPH and movement in inches.
Lastly, either the location of the pitch or the break of the pitch is shown. The location is simply where the ball crossed home plate. The break is how the ball moved in comparison to a ball thrown without spin. So if there was no spin the ball would end up at (0,0) on the graph.
Please note that sometimes the image posted will be the previous inputed image from your web browser's cache. This is because it takes the tool a few seconds to produce it's result and some times your impatient browser will just use the previous image. If this happens please press reload.
There are still a few issues including not allowing you to cut on the date. This is something that will be including but I am having trouble with it in my database. Also, I am having a bit of trouble with the spin and direction so sorry that didn't make it. It will be coming soon though. Also, the release point will become an option to plot and cut on and an extended table with some league averages will be in the next version. Lastly, the biggest issue is when you make a selection and it run it doesn't store your selection to allow you to alter your query quickly. This is very annoying but hard to fix on my end. I'll have a solution by the next update. If you press the back button hopefully your browser will remember your options but that is an imperfect solution.
If you would like to use any of the plots you make go ahead just add a link to the tools webpage, this page, or the hardballtimes article.
A big thanks to my beta testing team Mark (TigsTown.com), Lee (www.detroittigertales.blogspot
posted by Josh Kalk @ 6:46 PM
14 Comments
14 Comments:
Just wanted to point out some "errors" I notice for a few pitchers.
Chad Bradford: sliders should be curves, splitters should be changeups. Splitters and changeups essentially the same pitches anyway, different grips.
Dave Bush: cutters should be sinkers since it breaks to the arm side.
Joba Chamberlain: some of those sliders should be changeups and curves. The ones breaking to the arm side are the changeups and the ones that are closer to 80 mph are the curves.
Roger Clemens: the sliders below 80 MPH are curves.
Kyle Farnsworth: cutters should be sinkers since they're breaking to the arm side.
Carlos Marmol: majority of sliders should be curves. The sliders with vertical break closer to the fastballs are the real sliders. The sliders with vertical and horizontal break the same as fastballs are changeups.
Roy Oswalt: in the "break" graph, the sliders within the fastballs are changeups.
John Smoltz: the sliders that are between 85-90 MPH should be cutters.
Thanks for the updates. I'll try to get these fixed for the next release!
Interesting blog! my compliments.
kalkaanslag
Can you take the mitchell report and look for changes that might be apparent in, say, Clements during his Bluejay years when he first met his trainer, and then similar "recovery" when the yankees rehired him later? Something in velocity, performance, sure...but also body mechanics?
Likewise for any of the hitters?
Chip
...um, "Clemens"
Chip,
The PITCH/x data only goes back to a small part of last year so it can't be used to determine if someone like Clemens might have been using PEDs. If every pitch is tracked from here on out though you can bet that people will be using it for that.
Josh,
You might want to put a link for the tool next to the player cards. It's the most recent post, but only for now.
I was also wondering if you could add location to the pitch f/x tool. Setting parameters like that will make it easier to look at the data. When you look at the plots on the player cards, it's hard to get a sense of what's happening. You could also run a similar grouping algorithm to determine hot/cold spots for a batter.
Lastly, could you comment on how different your algorithm is from John Walsh's? Some of his recent stuff on THT has been pretty outstanding, but he hasn't made his raw data accessible like you have. It makes for some difficulties making comparisons as the blog proprietor found out.
Hi Josh,
A couple of questions: I assume that all of the pitches in your database contain the corrections described in your previous posts. But It's not clear to me whether or not you use the results of applying those corrections to calculate a new final position for the pitch. And if you do (I think you should because you are changing the parameters of the pitch trajectory), do you maintain the 'sea level' correction for doing so?
If I were to make a suggestion, I would make a copy of the data set with the sea-level correction removed. I can see a use for seeing, for example, how well hitters perform with respect to pitch movement. To do so, you would want to know what kind of movement the hitter actually saw, rather than what kind of movement he would have seen if the game had been played in standard conditions.
In reality, this is probably a small, nitpicky type suggestion, but I am curious to know how much the corrections and the altitude adjustment affect the final location of the baseball.
Was wondering if there is an easy way to query home/away splits? Particularly interesting in say COL?
Nice site
This is probably a small, nitpicky type suggestion, but I am curious to know how much the corrections and the altitude adjustment affect the final location of the baseball.
...........
Thusha
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I love the tool, but I want to be able to run a query that shows me all pitchers who have a fastball with greater than 5 inches of horizontal break. You force me to pick a specific pitcher. Can you change that?
Looking for Clay Buccholz??? any reason why he isn't in the database?
Is there a way to see the PITCHf/x data by year?
Thanks
Josh,
This is an awesome tool and I just wanted to thank you for posting it online so all us baseball nuts who love things like this can use it.
Thank you!!!
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