MLB | Brian Bannister: “If Bill James had a 90-mph fastball, he’d be me.”

Okay, so the real headline is “For Bannister, the secret is in the numbers,” but sometimes you just have to go with the juicy pull-quote.

Bannister recalls Rick Peterson, the Mets’ pitching coach at the time, talking about pitch counts. It was simple math—“If you get ahead of a guy in an 0-2 count, his batting average goes down,” Bannister says—but the message stuck.

“It got me intrigued into how different things affect my future success in this game,” Bannister says. “It’s been a process, because nobody is out there using sabermetrics as a tool in player development.

“I kind of feel like I’m a pioneer in that aspect of the game. That every fifth day when I go out there, the Major Leagues is kind of my way to apply this stuff and see if it can be used in the future for developing players.”

Bannister sees flaws in the traditional way pitchers are judged. An ERA is a good measurement of success, but it’s limited, he says.

To get a real indication of his effectiveness, Bannister looks at other stats. He looks at BABIP—batting average of balls in play—and FIP, which takes fielding out of the equation and measures pitchers based on homers allowed, walks, hit batters and strikeouts.

“I think people universally agree—in the sabermetric community and the fan community and in the media community—that sabermetrics are effective at identifying successful baseball players and ways to win this game,” Bannister says.

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Bannister knows that other players might not be as easily convinced. But if any player—or any person—wants to talk numbers or advanced stats or Pitch f/x ratios, Bannister is always up for it.

“I think it’ll be a tool used for player development as soon as somebody can explain how it can be used,” he said. “I don’t think guys are going to risk their careers trying to follow something they don’t understand. That’s why I think what I’m doing is fairly unique. I’m pretty much doing it on my own as a way to get better.”