sabr - R package (GitHub)

Connect to the Lahman SQL Database to query and calculate MLB offensive performance statistics

Project img for sabr - R package (GitHub) https://github.com/mikeleeco/sabr

The sabr package connects the Lahman SQL Database with functions used in calculating offensive performance in the MLB, namely wOBA. Created by Tom Tango and popularized in The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, wOBA uses yearly MLB performance to weigh offensive measures relative to league value. This package offers the following capabilities:

  • Retrieves the most up-to-date wOBA measures from 1871-2015
  • Queries yearly and career offensive performance from the Lahman SQL database
  • Calculates a player’s seasonal wOBA performance

Installation:

Download the latest development version from github:

if (packageVersion("devtools") < 1.6) {
  install.packages("devtools")
}
devtools::install_github("mdlee12/sabr")

Motivation:

wOBA is one of the best catch-all offensive performance statistics, but it’s formula is a bit convoluted since it requires 1) ten distinct rate stats and 2) weighted values based on a season’s run environment.

For example, the wOBA formula for the 2013 season was:

wOBA = (0.690 * uBB + 0.722 * HBP + 0.888 * (H - DB - TR - HR) + 1.271 * DB + 1.616 * TR + 2.101 * HR) / (AB + BB - IBB + SF + HBP)

Check out Fangraphs’ library for additional details.

New Functions with 0.2:

  • wRAA_season : Returns a MLB player’s weighted Runs Above Average by yearID
library(sabr)
wRAA_season("braunry02","2015")
## [1] 23.89798
  • wRC_season : Returns a MLB player’s weighted Runs Created by yearID
wRC_season("molitpa01","1991")
## [1] 127.0164
  • wRCp_season : Returns a MLB player’s weighted Runs Created Plus by yearID
wRCp_season("yountro01","1989")
## [1] 152.5421

Full calculation details are in the wOBA and wRC+ calculation.Rmd file

wRCp_season makes a couple assumptions:

  1. Park Factors are pulled from the Lahman Database - these are different from other sources
  2. A player’s primary position is used to remove pitchers from the League Runs/Plate Appearance calculation

Key Functions from 0.1:

  • battingseason : Offensive seasonal performance by playerID and yearID
battingseason("parrage01","2014")
##    playerID yearID stints  teamID  AB  R   H DB TR HR RBI SB CS BB  SO IBB SF SH GIDP HBP
## 1 parrage01   2014      2 ARI,MIL 529 64 138 22  4  9  40  9  7 32 100   5  2  6   10   5
  • battingcareer : Offensive career performance by playerID by organized by season
battingcareer("fieldpr01")
##     playerID yearID stints teamID  AB   R   H DB TR HR RBI SB CS  BB  SO IBB SF SH GIDP HBP
## 1  fieldpr01   2005      1    MIL  59   2  17  4  0  2  10  0  0   2  17   0  1  0    0   0
## 2  fieldpr01   2006      1    MIL 569  82 154 35  1 28  81  7  2  59 125   5  8  0   17  12
## 3  fieldpr01   2007      1    MIL 573 109 165 35  2 50 119  2  2  90 121  21  4  0    9  14
## 4  fieldpr01   2008      1    MIL 588  86 162 30  2 34 102  3  2  84 134  19 10  0   12  12
## 5  fieldpr01   2009      1    MIL 591 103 177 35  3 46 141  2  3 110 138  21  9  0   14   9
## 6  fieldpr01   2010      1    MIL 578  94 151 25  0 32  83  1  0 114 138  17  1  0   12  21
## 7  fieldpr01   2011      1    MIL 569  95 170 36  1 38 120  1  1 107 106  32  6  0   17  10
## 8  fieldpr01   2012      1    DET 581  83 182 33  1 30 108  1  0  85  84  18  7  0   19  17
## 9  fieldpr01   2013      1    DET 624  82 174 36  0 25 106  1  1  75 117   5  4  0   20   9
## 10 fieldpr01   2014      1    TEX 150  19  37  8  0  3  16  0  0  25  24  11  1  0    5   2
## 11 fieldpr01   2015      1    TEX 613  78 187 28  0 23  98  0  0  64  88  14  5  0   21  11
  • woba_season : Returns a MLB player’s weighted On-Base Average by yearID
woba_season("fieldpr01","2014")
## [1] 0.3049516
  • lahman_search : Returns a player’s Lahman playerID using either:
  • nameFirst (Player First Name)
  • nameLast (Player Last Name)
  • nameGiven (Player Given Name)
  • retroID (Retrosheet ID)
  • bbrefID (Baseball Reference ID)
lahman_search(nameFirst = "Robin")
##    playerID nameFirst nameLast         nameGiven  retroID   bbrefID
## 1 jenniro01     Robin Jennings Robin Christopher jennr001 jenniro01
## 2 roberro01     Robin  Roberts        Robin Evan rober102 roberro01
## 3 venturo01     Robin  Ventura        Robin Mark ventr001 venturo01
## 4 yountro01     Robin    Yount          Robin R. younr001 yountro01
lahman_search(nameLast = "Fielder")
##    playerID nameFirst nameLast     nameGiven  retroID   bbrefID
## 1 fieldce01     Cecil  Fielder   Cecil Grant fielc001 fieldce01
## 2 fieldpr01    Prince  Fielder Prince Semien fielp001 fieldpr01
lahman_search(nameGiven = "Russell Oles")
##    playerID nameFirst nameLast    nameGiven  retroID   bbrefID
## 1 branyru01   Russell  Branyan Russell Oles branr001 branyru01
lahman_search(retroID = "molip001")
##    playerID nameFirst nameLast nameGiven  retroID   bbrefID
## 1 molitpa01      Paul  Molitor  Paul Leo molip001 molitpa01
lahman_search(bbrefID = "yostne01")
##   playerID nameFirst nameLast       nameGiven  retroID  bbrefID
## 1 yostne01       Ned     Yost Edgar Frederick yoste001 yostne01

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