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Friday, July 16, 2010

The Royals set their rotation to give Brian Bannister more daytime starts

Ned Yost Sings the Cole Porter Songbook (lacks verve, tho).

Royals manager Ned Yost said one benefit to putting the rotation in this order is that it gives Bannister a chance to pitch more day games than his counterparts.

“The spot that has the most day games is the three spot,” Yost said. “Four of the nine starts are day games, and Banny excels in day games, so why not (put him there)?”

Bannister is 4-0 with a 2.37 ERA in six daytime starts this year, but 3-7 with 7.45 ERA in 12 nighttime starts.

“I can’t explain it,” Yost said. “There’s no explanation for it. You look at some guys and they may be 15-2 on Saturday. I don’t know why Banny pitches better in the day than the night.

“But you try to play the percentages in anything you do,” Yost continued. “Percentage-wise, it’s in our favor.”

Bannister is also stumped by the difference in his day/night stats, but is happy Yost decided to play the odds.

“At this point, I’m all in favor of it,” Bannister said. “It’s a smart move.”

Repoz Posted: July 16, 2010 at 10:22 PM | 21 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: fantasy baseball, royals, sabermetrics

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1. vivaelpujols Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:05 PM (#3591716)

There is no way that Bannister buys this crap.

2. Daryn Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:09 PM (#3591718)

I would say that a day/night differential is much more significant than a Satruday versus other days differential -- the latter having next to no significance.

Particularly for hitters, who just might see better in the day.

3. Willie Mayspedes Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:10 PM (#3591720)

Strategery!!!

4. Justin 'The Cespedobear' T Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:15 PM (#3591723)

I agree with 2, although I think that hitters generally prefer hitting at night. The stats may not reflect it, but if you ask them I think they say they just like it better.

Or maybe it's just playing at night that they prefer, on general principles, not because the hitting is so much nicer.

5. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:19 PM (#3591725)

Maybe Bannister is less hungover than everybody else.

6. The Nightman Cometh Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:19 PM (#3591727)

Bannister's career splits for those too lazy to look it up:
Day - 230.1 IP, 3.87 ERA, 2.0 K/BB, .261/.308/.392
Night - 411.1 IP, 5.49 ERA, 1.67 K/BB, .279/.341/.460

7. Vaux, A.B.D. Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:19 PM (#3591726)

There are always more runs scored in the daytime. That could be because hitters see the ball better in the daytime, or it could be because it's warmer in the daytime.

8. JJ1986 Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:23 PM (#3591732)

Brian Bannister is a master of karate and friendship for everyone.

9. Greg Pope Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:41 PM (#3591742)

Bannister's career splits for those too lazy to look it up

For those of us less capable of stats, at what point would day/night splits be meaningful?

10. SoSHially Unacceptable Posted: July 16, 2010 at 11:47 PM (#3591744)

For those of us less capable of stats, at what point would day/night splits be meaningful?

I don't know, but I don't have a problem with what the Royals are doing. Even if we don't precisely know what it is, it's possible there's a reason Bannister pitches better during the day (the career numbers being more significant than the single-season numbers cited), and if so, why not take advantage when there doesn't seem to be any downside to slotting the rotation that way?

11. The Well-Tempered Javier Vasquez (loungehead) Posted: July 17, 2010 at 12:00 AM (#3591754)

Brian Bannister: Nyctalopic.

12. The District Attorney Posted: July 17, 2010 at 12:37 AM (#3591766)

Maybe Bannister is a reverse vampire and he has to get home before dark.

We're through the looking glass here, people.

13. TerpNats Posted: July 17, 2010 at 01:15 AM (#3591785)

So I take it his warmup songs will not be "The Night Time Is The Right Time" by Ray Charles or "Thank The Lord For The Nighttime" by Neil Diamond.

14. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: July 17, 2010 at 01:32 AM (#3591793)

Didn't Eric Van have some theory that Jason Varitek was better suited to day games? Day/night splits used to mean more when major league lighting wasn't as good.

15. KronicFatigue Posted: July 17, 2010 at 01:38 AM (#3591799)

Are players more likely to get a day off during a day game? I'm basing this on two people: late career bonds, and Posada.

16. Kiko Sakata

Posted: July 17, 2010 at 01:59 AM (#3591804)

Are players more likely to get a day off during a day game? I'm basing this on two people: late career bonds, and Posada.

Day game after a night game is a classic time for old-school managers to rest old guys (late-career Bonds) and starting catchers (Posada). Some managers (Dusty Baker comes to mind, at least in his Cubs days) also liked to run out lineups full of scrubs on get-away days - day games where the team was flying out of town that night.

I agree with #10. There's probably not much "real" here, but if it's a straight 5-man rotation anyway and it's just a question of whether Bannister is slotted at #3 or #4 or whatever, I probably lean toward liking this. I mean, there are plausible reasons to think that day/night splits could be real (ability to see the ball, ability to adapt to changes in your routine, differences in weather). Certainly moreso than if Yost said he was going to start Bannister only on Tuesdays for the rest of the year.

17. Enrico Pallazzo Posted: July 17, 2010 at 02:08 AM (#3591815)

As a high school player, I ALWAYS preferred day games. I just felt better playing them, and definitely saw the ball better in them (I'd say I hit better in them, but I don't have any stats or anything to prove it). I can find day/night splits believable because of that.

And Bannister's a guy I root for so whatever helps him is cool with me.

18. Esoteric Posted: July 17, 2010 at 02:25 AM (#3591821)

Brian Bannister is a master of karate and friendship for everyone.

Well played, my friend.

19. Der_K is feeling better now. Posted: July 17, 2010 at 04:37 AM (#3591870)

JJ, how that didn't happen two posts earlier, I'll never know.

20. Accent Shallow Posted: July 17, 2010 at 03:50 PM (#3592014)

"The Night Time Is The Right Time"

Devil children unite!

/drive this seven inch wooden stake through my Philadelphia heart . . .

21. bobm Posted: July 17, 2010 at 08:21 PM (#3592135)

His day/night splits tOPS+ shows that Bannister has been consistently better in the day than at night since going to the Royals in 2007.

The sOPS+ shows he was better than league average during the day in 2007, 2009 and 2010, and better than league average at night in 2006 and 2007.



Season  Day  Night   Day Night

       tOPS+ tOPS+ sOPS+ sOPS+

2006    115     82   107    76

2007     76    107    64    94

2008     92    106   110   126

2009     69    115    62   104

2010     62    120    81     146

Source: BB-REF
EDITed for format

22. Justin 'The Cespedobear' T Posted: July 18, 2010 at 09:05 PM (#3592665)

Yost needed to use a more advanced metric to enact something like this. He didn't realize that Bannister pitches well only on non-Sunday afternoons.

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Friday, July 16, 2010

The Royals set their rotation to give Brian Bannister more daytime starts

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