Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Expected Pace
?Jeff took the slowest working pitcher (Papelbon at 31 seconds between pitches) and the slowest working hitter (Pena at 28 seconds) and wondered what happened when they actually faced each other.
There's two schools of thought here: the pitcher controls the pace, and if Papelbon takes 31 seconds, then there's nothing a slow or fast batter is going to do. It'll take 31 seconds.
The other is that both have an impact. If let's say the average pace is 22 seconds (guessing), then Papelbon is +9 and Pena is +6, and so the two facing each other would give us +15. So, we'd expect 22+15 = 37 seconds.
And it seems the second method works best.
More evidence that MLB should having the umpires prod along the worst offenders like Papelpon, Frasor, Betancourt etc.