Brian Bannister KC
Age: 27 (February 28, 1981) | 202lbs. | 6' 2" | Throws: Right P-27
TeamLeagueYearWLGGSSVIPHHRBBSOERARatioWHIPRatingK/W$
NYN NL 2006 2186038.034422194.2613.261.471.340.91
OMA AAA 2007 1144020.21644144.798.710.971.163.5
KCA AL 2007 12927270165.01561544773.8710.911.211.221.818
Career 2yrs 141035330203.01901966963.9511.351.261.241.5

11 comments
MF 5x5:
$1
AP 4x4:
$7
ShawnD

4 months ago
Not to spam, but as a side note, I'm seriously wondering if he calls his own game (doesn't depend much on the catcher to call the shots)? He strikes me as the kind of guy that asks the skipper to call his own game.
ShawnD

4 months ago
Wow! The guy seems to be quite cerebral! I love this kind of player... someone who isn't content with only his "stuff" but also digs in and finds out more "why". Thanks for the link, garryoak. It's stuff like this that keeps bringing me back to this site.

garryoak

4 months ago
There was a great little Q/A done by Tim Dierkes (presumably) at: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/01/brian-bannist-2.html

I found it a facinating little read, and quite cool to see how, as a pitcher, Bannister integrates statistical research (and theories a la DIPS) into his approach in order to improve his game. Seems like an intelligent and thoughtful guy...enjoy.

(btw, I have no affiliation to mlbtraderumors.com)
EugeneFreed

4 months ago
A few weeks ago Bannister had an on-line Q/A with someone about DIPS ERA. I think the discussion was actually with Voros McCracken, the man who developed it, then fell out of the sabermetric community for a few years for various reasons.

Further research has refined DIPS and does suggest that some pitchers do have some impact on BIP Avg, but very few.
ShawnD

4 months ago
I just read an article by Al Melchior at CBSSports that was a little interesting. Al says, "He not only knows what his H/BIP was last year, but contrary to what the research suggests, he thinks his low rate was neither random nor accidental. Bannister thinks he knows how to keep hit balls from becoming base hits. It's not that Bannister is ignorant of the research findings; he is actually a student of them. Through his own statistical research, he concludes that his H/BIP, ERA and WHIP could easily remain at their 2007 levels."

And then words from Bannister:

"I think a lot of fans underestimate how much time I spend working with statistics to improve my performance on the field ... I don't claim to be able to beat the .300 (H/BIP) average year in and year out at the Major League level. However, I also don't feel that every pitcher is hopelessly bound to that .300 number for his career if he takes some steps to improve his odds -- which is what pitching is all about."

My initial reaction is to sound the phoney balogna alarm. Ok, so the article goes on to state the purposefuly tries to manipulate his H/BIP with pitch selection and the induction of weak swings in two-strike counts. But doesn't this lead to the argument about how much control the pitcher has over BIP?
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