Looking through the spring training pitching leaders, a couple of lines stand out in the strikeout column (stats through Sunday, March 13th):
| Spring 2005 | Kent Mercker | Wilfredo Ledezma |
|---|---|---|
| Innings | 4 2/3 | 3 1/3 |
| Strikeouts | 8 | 8 |
| Hits | 10 | 7 |
| Hits/Ball In Play | 5/8 | 7/9 |
Where ball in play = Hits + (IP*3 – K).
Are these pitchers playing without a defense? Normally, high strikeout totals like those are indicative of good performances. But given the way they’re being hit when not stiking out batters, one has to wonder what’s going on. My guess is that they’re striking out the minor leaguers they’re facing, but the major leaguers are hammering them.
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My guess is that it’s small sample size, and is completely random. With samples of 16 and 9, I get that those performances are 3 SD from the mean.
All these performances are equivalent, assuming league average BABIP of .300:
10/16=0.625
17/32=0.531
30/64=0.469
53/128=0.414
98/256=0.383
183/512=0.357