USA Today: Shandler: Contact rate can be more revealing than batting average

Ron Shandler has joined USA Today and will be doing a weekly chat…this, from the transcript.

New Port Richey, FL: Ron, on average, how many MLB games do you watch during the season? Do you attend any games or just watch on TV? I heard a rumor that you don’t even watch the MLB games at all, is this true?? if so, why??

Ron Shandler: Yikes! Where did that rumor come from? Actually, I think I know. Some years ago, I wrote a column speculating that we might fare better in our leagues if we were not influenced by the small sample sizes of the performances we see on TV or at games. I think everyone has watched a terrific individual performance, listened to the commentators rave about a player and think, “I have to get him on my team.” But of course, the fun of playing fantasy is to follow your players. The answer is that you have to remain far enough away from the small data sets when making roster decisions. As far as my personal habits, I have a game on pretty much all the time that I can, even if it’s just white noise while I am working. The closest stadium from me is 4 hours away, so I only get to a handful of games each year.