RP11: Thursday, August 5, 2:30 – 2:55pm, Georgia 7,8,9

Many individuals believe that limiting pitch counts and increasing days of rest can improve performance and reduce injuries. Though the belief that overuse can hamper pitchers is widespread, there exists little evidence that adjusting pitch counts and rest has much effect on pitcher performance. In this study, Bradbury and Forman use newly available game-level pitch count data from 1988 to 2009 to evaluate the impact of pitch counts and rest days on future performance. They discuss their employment of linear and non-linear multiple regression analysis techniques to estimate the impact of pitch counts — in recent games and cumulatively over a season — and days of rest on pitcher performances while controlling for the effects of other factors.

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J.C. Bradbury (jcbradbury@gmail.com) is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and operates the weblog Sabernomics.com. His next book Hot Stove Economics: Understanding Baseball's Second Season (forthcoming October 2010) investigates the financial worth of players. A life-long Braves fan, he lives in Marietta, Georgia with his wife and two daughters. Sean Forman (sean@sports-reference.com) is the president of Sports Reference LLC. Formerly a professor of mathematics and computer science at St. Joseph's University, he lives in Philadephia. His research presentation "Blocking pitches: Assessing a catcher’s ability to save runs with bruises" won the Doug Pappas Award for best oral presentation at the 2006 SABR convention.