Fun Toys

Baseball Reference has a new feature where you can see what a player's stats might look like in a different context. So, you can see what Barry Bonds would have had to hit in Coors Field in 2001 to have an equally good season:

Year Ag G   AB  R   H   2B 3B HR RBI BB  SO SB Avg  OBP  SLG  OPS   RC ActG
2001 36 153 511 173 191 39 2  89 183 217 93 16 .374 .565 .980 1.545 281 153

Or the equivalent of Pedro's 1999 season in Dodger Stadium, 1968:

 Year Ag   G   W   L   WL%     IP    H    R   ER  HR   BB  SO  HBP   ERA   WHIP  ActG
+-------+----+---+---+-----+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+-----+------+----+
 1992 20    2   0   0          7.7    7    2    2   0    1    7   0  2.35  1.043    2
 1993 21   65   9   3  .750  113.7   65   25   22   4   49  126   3  1.74  1.003   65
 1994 22   34  15   9  .625  219.7  135   61   53  13   53  215  13  2.17  0.856   24
 1995 23   34  16  10  .615  234.7  146   67   58  19   61  209  10  2.22  0.882   30
 1996 24   33  15  10  .600  233.0  154   68   59  15   57  238   2  2.28  0.906   33
 1997 25   31  23   5  .821  254.0  132   41   36  13   56  321   8  1.28  0.740   31
 1998 26   33  20   7  .741  251.0  151   55   48  21   54  269   6  1.72  0.817   33
 1999 27   31  21   4  .840  229.3  123   33   29   7   28  336   7  1.14  0.658   31
 2000 28   29  22   3  .880  230.7   98   29   25  13   24  301  11  0.98  0.529   29
 2001 29   18  10   3  .769  125.0   68   23   20   4   20  174   5  1.44  0.704   18
 2002 30   30  18   5  .783  212.0  117   38   33  11   32  254  12  1.40  0.703   30
 2003 31   29  18   4  .818  201.0  116   33   29   6   37  221   7  1.30  0.761   29
 2004 32   33  16  10  .615  236.3  151   66   57  20   48  247  13  2.17  0.842   33
 2005 33   31  17   8  .680  227.3  136   56   49  16   40  217   3  1.94  0.774   31
 2006 34   23   7   8  .467  141.7   90   53   46  16   32  146   8  2.92  0.861   23
+-------+----+---+---+-----+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+-----+------+----+
Totals   456 227  89  .718 2917.0 1689  650  566 178  592 3289 108  1.75  0.782  442

This, of course, doesn't tell you how a player would perform in a different context, but it does tell you what an equivalently good (or bad) performance would be. This helps put the careers of pitchers in hitters eras (like Wes Ferrell) or hitters in pitchers eras (like Jimmy Wynn) in a better light.

Instructions:

To get started just go to a player’s page and click on “Neutralize Stats” within the pitching or batting toolbars. This converts the player’s stats to a neutral 162-game 750 run setting. From there, boxes allowing you to select a year, a league, and a team (or a neutral park) appear. The conversion is pretty quick and is performed in place. Clicking on “Return to Actual Stats” will put the real stats back into place.

The B-R PI is close to launching. The 750-run context will be free to all users, but the ability to convert to individual parks will be part of the subscription service. Until then (or maybe until after Christmas), both will be free.