"We are in a historic era for the home run. The 2017 season saw the most homers ever, with 2016 and 2018 close behind, a shift that has transformed the way the game is played. In Swing Kings, Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond reveals that the secret behind this unprecedented shift isn't steroids or the stitching of the baseballs, it's the most elemental explanation of all: the swing. In this lively narrative romp, he tracks...

Most baseball fans, players and even team executives assume that the National Pastime's infatuation with statistics is simply a byproduct of the information age, a phenomenon that blossomed only after the arrival of Bill James and computers in the 1980s. They couldn't be more wrong. In this unprecedented new book, Alan Schwarz - whom bestselling Moneyball author Michael Lewis calls "one of today's best baseball journalists" - provides the first-ever...

The bestselling annual baseball preview from the smartest analysts in the business Now in its 19th edition, the Baseball Prospectus annual shows once again how it became the industry leader: The 2014 edition includes key stat categories, more controversial player predictions, and the kind of wise, witty baseball commentary that makes this phone-book-thick tome worth reading cover to cover. Baseball Prospectus 2014 provides fantasy players and insiders...

After reading an article on a baseball blog, I was prompted to write this book. Why You Can't Clone Koufax is a book that utilizes the traditional statistical categories in analyzing and evaluating a player's career. While there are some sabermetric categories that are relevant and useful, we believe that the traditional statistical categories and methods are sufficient to objectively measure how a player performed. In utilizing the traditional statistical...

Most baseball fans realize that left handed hitters have certain advantages over right handers - a shorter running distance to first base, facing mostly right handed pitching, etc. What most fans don't realize however, are the incredible advantages uncovered by Ted Frank that not even the so called experts have discovered. This fascinating book shows why some of the Greats of the game were not so great, and why even in today's age of specialization...

The industry's longest-running publication for baseball analysts and fantasy leaguers, the 2014 Baseball Forecaster, published annually since 1986, is the first book to approach prognostication by breaking performance down into its component parts. Rather than predicting batting average, for instance, this resource looks at the elements of skill that make up any given batter's ability to distinguish between balls and strikes, his propensity to make...

Essential information for fantasy league baseball players and the best resource available to project future performance of minor leaguers  The first book of its kind to fully integrate sabermetrics and scouting, the 2016 Minor League Baseball Analyst provides a distinctive brand of analysis for more than 1,000 minor league baseball players. Features include scouting reports for all players, batter skills ratings, pitch repertoires, performance trends,...

Featuring every relevant team record, statistic, and award winner from the St. Louis Cardinals incredible past, this book includes a comprehensive collection of Redbirds all-time leaders in every conceivable category, from hits to strikeouts. From Dizzy Deans 30 wins or Lou Brocks 938 career stolen bases to Bob Gibsons single-season ERA of 1.12 or Mark McGwires 70 home runs in a season, this reference captures the legends and lore of the Cardinals....

Michael Schell is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina and Director of the Biostatistics Core Facility at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the author of Baseball's All-Time Best Sluggers: Adjusted Batting Performance from Strikeouts to Home Runs (Princeton) and has published more than 100 research articles on statistics and cancer. Tony Gwynn is the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. That's the...

Compiling 130 years of the Phillies, this handbook offers dedicated information to fans of Philadelphia's favorite baseball team. Topics covered include personalities, events, and facts that every fan should know without hesitation, such as important dates, player nicknames, and memorable moments. This guide to all things Phillies also includes a list of must-do Phillies-related activities, which include visiting the birthplace of Grover Clevelend...