Baseball Hacks isn't your typical baseball book--it's a book about how to watch, research, and understand baseball. It's an instruction manual for the free baseball databases. It's a cookbook for baseball research. Every part of this book is designed to teach baseball fans how to do something. In short, it's a how-to book--one that will increase your enjoyment and knowledge of the game. So much of the way baseball is played today hinges upon interpreting statistical data. Players are acquired based on their performance in statistical categories that ownership deems most important. Managers make in-game decisions based not on instincts, but on probability - how a particular batter might fare against left-handedpitching, for instance. The goal of this unique book is to show fans all the baseball-related stuff that they can do for free (or close to free). Just as open source projects have made great software freely available, collaborative projects such as Retrosheet and Baseball DataBank have made great data freely available. You can use these data sources to research your favorite players, win your fantasy league, or appreciate the game of baseball even more than you do now. Baseball Hacks shows how easy it is to get data, process it, and use it to truly understand baseball. The book lists a number of sources for current and historical baseball data, and explains how to load it into a database for analysis. It then introduces several powerful statistical tools for understanding data and forecasting results. For the uninitiated baseball fan, author Joseph Adler walks readers through the core statistical categories for hitters (batting average, on-base percentage, etc.), pitchers (earned run average, strikeout-to-walk ratio, etc.), and fielders (putouts, errors, etc.). He then extrapolates upon these numbers to examine more advanced data groups like career averages, team stats, season-by-season comparisons, and more. Whether you're a mathematician, scientist, or season-ticket holder to your favorite team, Baseball Hacks is sure to have something for you. Advance praise for Baseball Hacks: "Baseball Hacks is the best book ever written for understanding and practicing baseball analytics. A must-read for baseball professionals and enthusiasts alike." -- Ari Kaplan, database consultant to the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Baltimore Orioles "The game was born in the 19th century, but the passion for its analysis continues to grow into the 21st. In Baseball Hacks, Joe Adler not only demonstrates thatthe latest data-mining technologies have useful application to the study of baseball statistics, he also teaches the reader how to do the analysis himself, arming the dedicated baseball fan with tools to take his understanding of the game to a higher level." -- Mark E. Johnson, Ph.D., Founder, SportMetrika, Inc. and Baseball Analyst for the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals

Pitching Strategies Explained is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book in the world today on the mental strategies used by top collegiate and professional pitchers. It is a must-have for any player, parent or coach hoping to maximize success at any level of the game. Pitching Strategies Explained leaves no stone unturned as it delves into every aspect of a pitcher's strategic universe. In addition to drills, warm-ups and sample game plans, it includes a number of charts and tables demonstrating everything from pitch location to a hitter's habits. Not only does Pitching Strategies Explained contain everything a pitcher could ever want to know about the mental side of pitching, but it is also written in an easy-to-follow manner and contains information on college scouting, recruiting and parental participation. Below are just some of the many topics the book analyzes. - How to Get Outs - Understand the Strike Zone - Where to Stand on the Rubber - Pitching Sequences - The Necessity of Pitching Inside - Understand a Batter's Vision - Pitching to Bunters - Pitching with Men on Base - When to Throw/Not to Throw Different Types of Pitches - Away Early, In Late - When in Doubt, Stay Away - How Velocity Affects Strategy - Work Fast and Upset the Batter's Rhythm - Pitching Ahead and Behind - Recognizing the Batter's Weakness - The Batting Stance (how to pitch to more than 20 different batting stances) - Pitching to the Hitter's Weaknesses - Know the Pitch for the Count - Signals for a Stubborn Catcher - Holding Runners and Pickoff Moves (includes dozens of unique tips and strategies) - Fielding in the Pitcher's Position - Pitching to Converted Left-Handed Hitters - Full Count Pitches - Destroy the Batter's Rhythm - The Emotional Game

Dear Baseball Gods, Why didn't you look out for him? Didn't he deserve better? He hustled, competed, and played the game the right way. What happened wasn't fair. A Second Comeback Dan sat by a tree, staring at the ground trying to decide what he would do next. The doctor had just explained that everything he worked for was now ruined. A second Tommy John surgery? Does anyone come back from that? Is my career over? Is this it? A Winding Road to the Top As a walk-on in college, Dan had to earn everything. He pitched on three hours sleep, lived in the clubhouse, played for a team that collapsed mid-season, and endured more arm pain than any kid should. A Way to Move On When finally forced to hang up his cleats, Dan looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the man peering back. If no longer a ballplayer...what would he do? What had been the point of it all? Who was he? The Deeper Side of Life as an Athlete In this philosophical memoir, written as a series of letters, you'll learn that the pinstripes don't wash off so easily.

What Does it Take to Have a Great Baseball Career? You daydream about one day seeing your face on a baseball card. You live for pressure and the green grass beneath your cleats. But as your career progresses, the game gets harder. You slump and struggle. You get injured and overlooked. Your confidence plummets. Can you keep improving? Are your big dreams still within reach? A Handbook for the Dedicated Player Clean Your Cleats is filled with stories and advice learned the hard way, over a long career on the diamond. Develop better routines and improve your consistency. Handle the ups and downs with confidence and resolve. Strengthen relationships with teammates, parents and coaches. Learn mindset strategies to become the best version of you. Dan Blewett, in this practical guide, helps players understand all the little things in baseball that make a huge difference over a long career. Why clean your cleats? Because every detail matters.

This book is written for the advanced college to pro level pitcher, coach and scout. It refers to advanced techniques for understanding and applying the latest in Doppler radar ball tracking technology, and advanced pitching strategies. This isn't meant to be a physics book or a research paper. The focus of this book is on real world applications using Doppler metrics for player development and scouting, not outcome results statistics. Topics center on pitch analysis, development and design, batter and batted ball analysis, Magnus spin, Bullet spin, Seams Imbalance Laminar break, Seams Imbalance Turbulent break, sequencing, advanced strike zone analysis, and more.Many of the charts and images in this book are a few of the basic charts generated from Pitchgrader (tm) software. With over 3 years of development and real world use, Pitchgrader has hundreds of charts, graphs, heatmaps, and more advanced metrics and 3D baseball analysis software that is currently used by MLB teams and top D1 college baseball teams to interpret and apply their ball tracking data. Sabermetrics generally describes results. The new type of data analyzed today is more of process than results. It's not "stats", but interrelated data for multiple viable combinations. Kinematics, kinetics, kinesiology; we call this process data, Kinemetrics. There is a tendency for many to evaluate pitching and batting in terms of absolute measured values. This is understandable given all the absolute values the machines generate. But numbers can be deceiving if you focus only on numbers, especially a single metric, a small group of metrics, or worse, the wrong metrics. This book helps you avoid those pitfalls and helps you learn how to apply this data towards better player development, advance scouting, and amateur scouting. Foreword written by Desi Druschel, Pitching Coach, University of Iowa

Want to deliver a pitch or presentation that grabs your audience’s ever-shrinking attention span? Ditch the colorful slides and catchy language. And follow one simple rule: Convey only what needs to be said, clearly and concisely, in three minutes or less. That’s the 3-Minute Rule. Hollywood producer and pitch master Brant Pinvidic has sold more than three hundred TV shows and movies, run a TV network, and helmed one of the largest production companies in the world with smash hits like The Biggest Loser and Bar Rescue. In his nearly twenty years of experience, he’s developed a simple, straightforward system that’shelped hundreds—from Fortune 100 CEOs to PTA presidents—use top-level Hollywood storytelling techniques to simplify their messages and say less to get more. Pinvidic proves that anyone can deliver a great pitch, for any idea, in any situation, so your audience not only remembers your message but can pass it on to their friends and colleagues. You’ll see how his methods work in a wide range of situations—from presenting investment opportunities in a biotech startup to pitching sponsorship deals for major sports stadiums, and more. Now it’s your turn. The 3-Minute Rule will equip you with an easy, foolproof method to boil down any idea to its essential elements and structure it for maximum impact. Simplify. Say less. Get More.

Offers advice on the mechanics of pitching, and recommends a program of weight training, aerobic exercise, and sound nutrition.