Applying Statistical Methods in Money-ball Search

Posted: August 27th, 2021

Applying Statistical Methods in Money-ball Search

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Applying Statistical Methods in Money-ball Search

Addressing How the Oakland A’s Used Statistical Methods

Following Lewis (2003), the inspiration behind Money-ball motivated Bill Beane to come up with his draft regarding baseball players’ position on specific statistical factors. His actions entailed imposing an on-base percentage (OBP)coupled with slugging percentage on Oakland Athletics (Lewis, 2003). Beane went ahead to combine these two statistical variants into a new tool recognized as on-base plus slugging (OPS) to impact a fruitful change. Apart from that, Beane’s new approach did not consider to feature power as an essential factor for determining a player’s ability to run and score. In his belief, unlike patience, power is developed over a given period along with player capacity to be at the desired base (Lewis, 2003).Therefore, he relied on baseball players from college due to their experience compared to high school ones. The high school players lacked the stable power that required to maneuver during the game, implying limited potential to win the game.

Beane adopted Bill James’ sabermetrics ideology as a measure of deciding on his team’s lineup. In this regard, he chose his line of action that would impact the best opportunities for winning. For instance, he fully understood that any guaranteed win was pegged on his team’s possible ability to score more runs compared to other competing teams (Lewis, 2003). As much as many coaches are accustomed to placing significant importance on battling averages, Beane considered it otherwise. Instead, he chose to focus centrally on the order of runs scored per single game.In this case, it is worth noting that in a given match, the task of the hitter is creating home runs, doubling, getting on the base and stealing the bases. Subsequently, the newly derived sabermetrics – OPS – helps measure a hitter’s success in respect to the number of runs one would create throughout the match (Lewis, 2003). As a way of assessing the number of created runs by the hitter, Beane adopted the application of the following formula in his tall task to success.

 (Hits + Walks) x Total Bases

At-bats + Walks

Precisely, the formula has a success rate of 90%, where it provides a total of the team’s tangible scored runs occurring within 5% (Lewis, 2003). Therefore, James’ sabermetrics on OBP needs to be meticulously examined because walks are the critical part of the fashioned runs formula. 

Discussing the Importance of Approaching Business Problems in Innovative Ways

Motivating creativity and exploring innovative ways of approaching a business has helped improve an organization’s productivity beyond recognized borders. According to Triady & Utami (2015), innovation is a critical component for an organization because it enhances its competitiveness. Adopting an innovation implies that an organization will save time, cost and other resources along its production line.  Most importantly, the reassurance of employees towards positive and out-thinking ostensibly offers them a chance to commit time and resources effectively. Equally, proper utilization of employees’ capability is the first option towards inculcating innovation in business. For example, employees are capacitated to explore new innovative meansabout several business solutions’ cost-effectiveness (Triady & Utami, 2015; Lewis, 2003).Therefore, creativity would advance the much-needed processof solving problems to stay ahead of the competition. In brief, creative problem-solving brings about a better competitive edge that any business might adopt torealize a striving success.

References

Lewis, M. (2003). Money-ball: The Art of Winning the Unfair Game. New York:

W.W. Norton and Company.

Triady, S. M., & Utami, F. A. (2015). Analysis of decision-making process in Money-ball: The art of winning an unfair game. The Winners, 16(1), 57. https://www.doi:10.21512/tw.v16i1.1555