Contact = the ability to put balls into play.

The other ratings modify contact to predict what the quality is of those balls put into play. A guy who is 100/0/0/0/0 may not strike out much, but he may also hit .000 for the season.

Posted by brrexkl on 6/29/2010 1:20:00 PM (view original):
  Unless they work with COBALT or ASC-II, then it's not a Tree... more of a Branch. :)

Damn you and your semi-literal-minded ways!

I play in Albuquerque and tend to hold for contact. I have the best contact in the NL, the most hits, highest average, and fewest strikeouts.

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/29/2010 11:12:00 AM (view original):
I actually understand what JS might be saying.  That it's not a "tree of results".  That the engine determines the exact outcome of the play without going thru options.  That seems to be a very complicated way of doing it but I suppose it could happen.   I just don't know how.

yeah something like that.  Or, contact could work in TANDEM with splits.  So BALL IN PLAY, but SPLIT+CONTACT<variable x, so RESULT=OUT. 

The variable would be based on the defense allignment (infield shallow, guard lines, etc), the skill of the defense, skill of pitcher, and ballpark.  The equation SPLIT+CONTACT was just an arbitrary formula, and if the game is based this way, it's probably more complicated than this.  But this is just an extremely simple example just to get the point across.  In this fashion, the engine could still use a tree, but contact combines with other ratings to determine whether or not a ball in play is a hit. 

Contact could also be QUALITY of contact.  What does that mean?  Well, if you watch a baseball game, you'll hear the announcers talk about making "solid" contact or "good" contact.  Barely getting a piece of the ball and popping up is the result of contact, but "bad" contact at that.  Hitting the ball on the sweet spot and driving it is the result of "solid" contact.  The sound of good contact compared to bad contact is audible whether you're at the ballpark or watching the game on TV.  A high contact rating could very well be the skill of often hitting the ball on the sweet spot.

I'm just hypothesizing, I'm not necessarily saying that I believe this to be true.

Posted by prezuiwf on 6/29/2010 9:18:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jimmystick on 6/28/2010 10:56:00 PM (view original):

Posted by FishNasty on 6/28/2010 5:51:00 PM (view original):
Ahhh, good points.  I don't know what I was thinking.  He WILL get more hits than the other guy, but not necc. a higher average.  However, for the most part, wouldn't you rather have a guy put a ball into play than strike out?  I appreciate where this conversation is leading and would like to hear other thoughts as well.  Good questions.

There are many baseball gurus and sabermetricians who don't care about strikeout rates.  Those people view a strikeout as just another out.  Afterall, what difference does it make if the batter pops up, flies out to the warning track, or strikes out.  The end result is the same: an out.  There are exceptions of course, like the flyout to the warning track will score a runner on third base with less than 2 outs.  But a groundball to the second baseman can also result in a double play with a runner on first base.  In some scenarios it is actually BETTER to strikeout rather than put the ball in play.  For a really slow runner, you'd just assume he strikeout with a runner on first rather than put the ball in play and risk a double play.

Actually, that's not really true. Sabermetricians do view strikeout rates as being important when evaluating future hitter performance. Since batting average is determined by a whole host of factors once balls have been put into play, guys who put more balls into play have a much greater chance of improving their batting averages in the future by virtue of the fact that if they keep hitting balls into play, eventually they'll have seasons where more of them fall in for hits. So if there are two guys with totally equal skill sets but one of them strikes out 100 times a year and another guy 30, the guy with 30 will have a significantly higher batting average over the course of his career due to luck alone.

excellent point , +1 prezuiwf

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/28/2010 7:51:00 PM (view original):
Only checked last three seasons but 56 of his 147 hits were of the infield variety.  

Mike, exactly how MUCH time do you have on your hands?