plunk rates by distance
Following up on Friday's post regarding how far away Craig Biggio has been when he's collected his 136 road HBPs, today's topic is how his rate of getting hit changes with respect to distance from Houston.
Craig Biggio has been hit most often, 45 times, in parks between 750 and 1000 miles from Houston. That range includes the parks in Denver, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Miami. But, his highest rate of plunks per plate appearance has occurred within 250 miles of Houston. Only the Texas Rangers play that close to the home of the Astros, and Biggio has been hit 5 times in 69 plate appearance at Arlington. That comes to a rate of 0.07 plunks per plate appearance, or an HBP every 13.8 trips to the plate.
The rate Biggio gets hit appears to be greatest in cities closer to Houston and drops off further away. He's been hit once per 43.1 plate appearance between 1000 and 1,250 miles from Houston, once per 47.8 PAs between 1,250 and 1,500 miles away, once per 83.7 PAs 1,500 to 1,750 miles away, and he has never been hit at the only park he's played in over 1,750 miles away (Safeco Field in Seattle).
Their are 9 ballparks in which Biggio has played a game but never got hit by a pitch, and only 1 of them is less than 1000 miles from Houston - Mile High Stadium, where the Rockies played before building Coors Field. 2 are between 1,500 and 1,750 miles from Houston (AT&T Park and Fenway), and the other 5 are all between 1,000 and 1,250 miles from Houston (Metrodome, Tiger Stadium, Comerica Park, Jacobs Field, and RFK Stadium).
Below is the chart of Biggio's rates of plate appearances per plunk grouped by mileage from Houston. The anomaly of the 500-750 range having a lower rate of plunkings than the 750-1000 range is most likely due to either the Braves underachieving - being last in the NL in plunking Biggio, and about 700 miles from Houston - or the Rockies overachieving, leading all teams in plunking Biggio including hitting him 15 times at Coors Field, about 880 miles from Houston.
| Miles from Houston | HBP | PA | PA per HBP |
| 0-250 | 5 | 69 | 13.8 |
| 500-750 | 21 | 900 | 42.9 |
| 750-1000 | 45 | 1591 | 35.4 |
| 1000-1250 | 24 | 1035 | 43.1 |
| 1250-1500 | 32 | 1529 | 47.8 |
| 1500-1750 | 9 | 753 | 83.7 |
| 1750+ | 0 | 14 | n/a |
Parks Biggio has played at, grouped by approximate distance from Houston
| Miles from Houston | Parks |
| 0-250 | The Ballpark at Arlington |
| 500-750 | Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Busch Stadium II, Busch Stadium III, Royals Stadium, Turner Field |
| 750-1000 | US Cellular Field, Coors Field, Great American Ball Park, Dolphins Stadium, Mile High Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Wrigley Field |
| 1000-1250 | Chase Field, Comerica Park, County Stadium, Jacobs Field, Metrodome, Miller Park, PNC Park, RFK Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Tiger Stadium |
| 1250-1500 | Citizen's Bank Park, Dodger Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Petco Park, Qualcomm Stadium, Shea Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Yankee Stadium |
| 1500-1750 | AT&T Park, Candlestick Park, Fenway Park, Network Associates Coliseum, Stade Olympique |
| 1750+ | Safeco Field |
2 Comments:
Now oh wise one of plunks,
Wouldn't it make sense that since the Astro's are a central division team that the highest numbers be close to the average distance away of central division teams?
Well yeah, that's the simplest explaination, but I like to assume not that the simplest explaination is usually the best, but that the most entertaining explaination is usually the best, no matter how unreasonable. Call it "Murdock's Razor" in honor of the man who gave us Fox News.
Also, since this post looks at plate appearances per plunk, it shouldn't matter as much which teams the Astros play most often - and the team that has hit Biggio the most is not in the NL Central. Also, the team that has hit Biggio the most per plate appearance is not in the NL Central. So really the main explaination here is that where ever the Colorado Rockies and Texas Rangers fall in the groupings is where the highest numbers will fall.
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