Go Deep Into Royals’ Stats

I was reading Sam Mellinger’s post about Alex Gordon this morning and he lost me before I finished the first paragraph. He introduced me to Play Index on the Baseball Reference website. I already loved that website. It just went to a new level with Play Index. PI gives you stats you never had access to before.

For example, I just popped in Mike Sweeney’s name and discovered that he hit more home runs on the first pitch he saw (41) than any other count. I was stunned to learn that he only hit seven home runs on 3-1 counts. But if you look a little closer, you see that he had 132 career ABs with 3-1 counts and he ended up with 149 BB, so more times than not, he ended up walking (like most other players I suspect). He hit .290 with 35 HR and 252 RBI with two outs and runners in scoring position. In tie games, he hit .294 with 50 HR and 210 RBI. And here’s a stat for all of those who said Sweeney didn’t do much except when the Royals were getting blown out: he hit 177 of his 199 (88.9%) home runs when his team was within four runs of its opponents. He also hit .301 when his team was within four runs and .290 when his team was losing by more than four runs.

Yeah, I’ve been digging into the stats of other Royals’ players past and present. PI is a baseball fan’s dream. Check it out.