new Fielding Research Committee tasked to develop a proprietary new defensive analytic called the SABR Defensive Index™, or SDI™.

So Mike, are you on this committee?

An by proprietary they mean the members of SABR won't have access to how the defensive metric is calculated?

Where to start...

This is exactly what I've been concerned about with the direction that the organization has been headed, in trying to get a closer relationship with MLB. A proprietary metric? For an organization whose primary purpose is supposed to be to disseminate baseball information? How can SABR justify doing anything that isn't open source, available to all, in alignment with its mission?

How will the "proprietary" metric be validated? Against whose standards? How will the broader research community know that it makes sense? Just because SABR and MLB say so?

And what happens when the next wave of research comes along and renders much of what we currently know obsolete or less relevant? Will SABR and MLB show a willingness to incorporate breakthrough research initiated outside of SABR/MLB sponsorship into the "proprietary" metric?

This is just wrong, on so many levels. Not wrong for the powers that be in SABR, mind you - but wrong for the baseball research community as a whole.

-- MWE

So Mike, are you on this committee?

I am not, and I won't be.

If my comment above wasn't specific - I think this is a clear violation of SABR's mission statement.

-- MWE

I think this is a clear violation of SABR's mission statement.

Since nothing is being withheld (yet), it isn't a clear violation.

It could easily be meaning "SABR's official calculation", which doesn't mean it is secretive *necessarily*. Like all things - let's wait and see.

I don't think we should have to 'wait and see.' Someone should be able to say what the proprietary adjective is supposed to be describing.

Range Factor?

Well if KJOK, MWE and Foghorn all don't know specifics, which SABR members *ARE* involved with this committee?

Well if KJOK, MWE and Foghorn all don't know specifics, which SABR members *ARE* involved with this committee?

I read the press release as "this is *starting*" So the committee is being formed.

KJOK, I just meant the info isn't presented *yet*. I think it will be. Its just a press release, and I wouldn't expect every detail to be out yet. From what I know about SABR is that this will evolve.

Hopefully SDI will track balls in play a bit better than it tracked missiles in flight.

Ha ha. But ya know, the "SDI" that knocked out scuds in 1991 worked pretty well.

yes, there are two "WILLS" in the announcement. As a SABR member and statistical analysis committee (SAC) member, I received the exact same announcement today, no more and no less. I have asked the chair of the SAC what he knows.

******

edit: Phil B writes back, he has heard nothing; he saw it first on Tango's blog.

One (at a minimum) good thing will come of this; the fact that the voters will actually have Information in front of them to Inform their voting. Maybe it will be better than a picture of Jeter diving into the stands or flipping a relay throw to a catcher....

I don't understand the need for a proprietary metric. Hopefully, they will present as much publicly available defensive data along with whatever new thingy they come up with. The idea isn't necessarily horrible if the arrangement include access to some proprietary MLB data that SABR researchers can work with.

It seems like Rawlings was starting to see the Fielding Bible Awards as a threat. The response seems gimmicky though. Will more than a handful of managers and coaches really care about this new component in the "selection process?"

They'll probably look at the -30 or so number next to Jeter's name, declare the whole process useless, and vote him another gold glove.

I smell an impt sideshow at the SABR43 Philly convention this summer....

They'll probably look at the -30 or so number next to Jeter's name, declare the whole process useless, and vote him another gold glove.

You think at age 39, and coming off a broken ankle, Jeter can maintain his usual fielding performance? Seems optimistic.... :)

I'm fairly confident voters will see that he's lost at least 2-3 inches of vertical on his jump tosses to first and realize he's become a below average fielder.

I'm with Mike in Post #2, but let's see how this plays out. Everything I've read so far leads me to believe that it may be somewhat in flux.

I'm fairly confident voters will see that he's lost at least 2-3 inches of vertical on his jump tosses to first and realize he's become a below average fielder.

Yeah, but he is starting to go gray, so think of all the raw MAN-NESS, to say nothing of Mystique & Aura, that is oozing out of him. No way he can be sub-par at anything. It's clearly the Rod's fault for not getting to that ball in the hole. And Cano doesn't hustle, so all those balls up the middle are his fault.