Does a batter's history against an SP matter?

[TenaciousG]

Moises Alou was 4/9 career against Vogelsong so I started him over Steve Finley who had never faced Jeff Weaver. So what happens?

Alou goes 0/3, Finley is 2/3 right now.

This has happened to me a couple times.

So does previous history matter at all?

[KPucks]

Previous histrory matters if a player has faced a pitcher 10+ times. That gives a decent idea of the player's effectiveness against the pitcher. In your case, there was no data for Finley, so you wouldn't know whether or not he could hit Weaver.

[TenaciousG]

Yeah. However I thought the Alou stat made a pretty good case for a start today.

Any other thoughts?

[eftda]

It matters if they are 30+ or if the starst are like

Sosa is 0/100 against this pitcher...

etc...

[willieroe]

I have no problem with your selection, especially given that among Alou's 4 hits were a double and homer. If you have 2 hitters of roughly equal production vying for a spot in your day's lineup, you'll need to make a choice somehow!

[CrazyPooja90]

Yeah. Well the bottom line is this: A player's history against a pitcher should be taken account of when you decide to start him, however it is just one of many criteria that you should use to make your decision.

[Amazinz]

I have no problem with your selection, especially given that among Alou's 4 hits were a double and homer. If you have 2 hitters of roughly equal production vying for a spot in your day's lineup, you'll need to make a choice somehow!

I agree with this. Normally the sample size for batter versus pitcher splits is too small to be useful. But with everything else being equal it's the only way to choose and at least as good as flipping a coin.

[Mild Thing]

I agree with this. Normally the sample size for batter versus pitcher splits is too small to be useful. But with everything else being equal it's the only way to choose and at least as good as flipping a coin.

Agree that you have to be careful because of the sample size. Just because somebody is 0-7 lifetime doesn't mean that they didn't hit the ball hard 5/7 times.

The other statistic I look at is the K/AB ratio -- often you'll see players who have a disproportionately high number of K's per AB's. This leads me to believe that this particular batter seems to have a hard time picking up the ball from this pitcher.

[Pedro]

More stathead propaganda.

[thehat]

The logic here was fine. Who knew that Vogelsong would pitch as well as he did today?

But that said, there's no way I sit Finley vs. ANY righthander presently!