Starts: Road vs. Home

[RonCo]

A few days ago, @Ted asked a bit of an offhand question about whether I knew anything about the number of starts a pitcher made at home or away. The value, he posited, was that there could be some different takes on the value of different players if you knew what parks that had played in the most. That’s true, of course. If you pitch on a team with a great pitcher’s park, that means nothing if you pitch more often on the road.

And, of course vice versa.

I’ve been thinking about it, and today spent some time messing with the output of my fun little Results spreadsheet from last season. With a little excel magic, I tagged each game started for pitchers as the home team or the away team, then cut it.

The answer is, I assume a pretty fair representation of “random,” since I assume most of us GMs don’t actively start pitchers only in one park or another, though I’ll admit there might be a time or two every year where I’m juggling guys for a match-up of some sort. Anyway, that’s a long way of saying that I think this data is probably pretty “reliable” in that it likely doesn’t have much selection bias. Bottom line: yeah, while a majority of pitchers sit in the middle zone, some pretty big swings can happen—swings as big as, say 2:1 for pitchers who start 30ish games.

Guys who got served up airport dinners: Sacramento’s Dani Garcia (er, ex-Pope, anyway) started ten games at home, 21 on the road. Wichita’s Damon Tipping got seven home starts, 16 on the road.

Guys who sopped up home cooking: New Orleans’ Cristian Garcia (16 home starts, 7 on the road), and once again Wichita’s Takanori Gato, who had 20 home starts against only 11 on the road.

I’m not sure what it means, but it seems valuable.

It always made sense that this would happen, right? I mean, flip a coin thirty times often enough and you’ll get that kind of breakdown every now and again.

Here’s the data:

GS-Home-Away.PNG (17.62 KiB) Viewed 1580 times

Granaular data (note the plotted points are by individual lines, so pitchers who appeared with two teams are not properly represented--they show as two separate entries)

PitcherID	Pitcher	PitchTeam	Home	Away	Total
22086	Pedro Sánchez	Nashville Bluebirds	0	1	1
22208	Egbert Behner	Louisville Sluggers	0	1	1
24473	Júlio Cuevas	Phoenix Talons	0	1	1
25215	Lorenzo Solís	Madison Wolves	0	1	1
26893	Luis Gonzáles	Valencia Stars	0	1	1
28015	Elijah Campos	Atlantic City Gamblers	0	1	1
30504	Raymond Ortíz	Hawaii Tropics	0	1	1
33554	Javier González	New Orleans Crawdads	0	2	2
35276	Jarod Wilson	Atlantic City Gamblers	0	1	1
35501	Ángel Díaz	Chicago Black Sox	0	1	1
36422	Sean Gardner	Charlotte Cougars	0	1	1
37530	Roberto Lizardo	Valencia Stars	0	1	1
37606	Douglas Wils	Hawaii Tropics	0	1	1
41720	Aurelio Soto	Las Vegas Hustlers	0	1	1
42034	José Zamora	Sacramento Mad Popes	0	2	2
42848	Gilberto Nevárez	Montreal Blazers	0	1	1
43998	Martin Villa	Edmonton Jackrabbits	0	1	1
47892	Juan Pinto	Louisville Sluggers	0	1	1
18641	Carson Stoller	Omaha Cyclones	1	0	1
20811	Bill Carter	Boise Spuds	1	0	1
21134	Duane Coutts	Wichita Aviators	1	0	1
21707	Alfredo Sosa	Charm City Jimmies	1	1	2
22433	Ernesto Lópes	Des Moines Kernels	1	3	4
23357	Pedro Ortíz	Madison Wolves	1	1	2
23561	Rafael León	Long Beach Surfers	1	3	4
24005	Thiongo Muiru	Charm City Jimmies	1	1	2
25833	Raúl López	Seattle Storm	1	0	1
25892	Domingo Otero	Phoenix Talons	1	1	2
26706	Abe Colbert_ Jr.	Wichita Aviators	1	1	2
26840	Masaaki Adachi	Portland Lumberjacks	1	0	1
28725	Jesús López	Jacksonville Hurricanes	1	3	4
30308	Lance Carter	Sacramento Mad Popes	1	0	1
32391	Rudy Forrest	Las Vegas Hustlers	1	0	1
32415	Peter Dickerson	Valencia Stars	1	2	3
33138	Doug Clément	Wichita Aviators	1	0	1
34838	Knud Zeitler	Sacramento Mad Popes	1	0	1
35243	Adam Barnard	Boise Spuds	1	2	3
36134	Edris Mtume	Long Beach Surfers	1	0	1
36844	Ghi-cheng Kum	Portland Lumberjacks	1	0	1
38154	Ash Davenport	Nashville Bluebirds	1	0	1
38942	Ricardo Quadrado	New Orleans Crawdads	1	2	3
39352	Seitaro Yamamoto	San Antonio Outlaws	1	1	2
40589	Sergio Pérez	Yellow Springs Nine	1	0	1
40848	Brian King	Twin Cities River Monsters	1	0	1
41641	Brian Smith	Chicago Black Sox	1	0	1
42450	James Browning	Louisville Sluggers	1	3	4
42951	Sixto Rivera	Louisville Sluggers	1	1	2
43650	Jimmy Cook	Brooklyn Robins	1	0	1
		Rockville Pikemen	1	0	1
46768	John McClain	Chicago Black Sox	1	2	3
49102	George Noble	Sacramento Mad Popes	1	0	1
18023	José Rodríguez	Phoenix Talons	2	5	7
22404	Vicente López	Edmonton Jackrabbits	2	0	2
28419	Sandro Plumey	Jacksonville Hurricanes	2	5	7
		Louisville Sluggers	2	0	2
30855	Keith Howard	Louisville Sluggers	2	7	9
31035	Grellan Profit	Valencia Stars	2	3	5
33522	Yu Vgotmael	Atlantic City Gamblers	2	3	5
33689	Luis Gonzáles	Charlotte Cougars	2	2	4
		Chicago Black Sox	2	5	7
35234	Luuk van den Hoek	Louisville Sluggers	2	2	4
		Phoenix Talons	2	1	3
35980	Stephen Clulow	Louisville Sluggers	2	2	4
38662	António Herrera	Madison Wolves	2	3	5
40053	Arturo Rivera	Calgary Pioneers	2	1	3
40646	Brian Crewe	Louisville Sluggers	2	1	3
40650	Tiernan O'Macken	Yellow Springs Nine	2	0	2
41616	José Pérez	Twin Cities River Monsters	2	2	4
42195	Carlos Granados	Calgary Pioneers	2	2	4
43611	Gilberto Cruz	New Orleans Crawdads	2	3	5
44833	Cristo Muñóz	Jacksonville Hurricanes	2	2	4
44879	Rafael Rodríguez	Des Moines Kernels	2	7	9
53701	Bob McConnell	Hawaii Tropics	2	5	7
53812	Dylan Clark	Jacksonville Hurricanes	2	2	4
56808	Ashton Brooks	Charlotte Cougars	2	4	6
29642	In-sung Yi	Louisville Sluggers	3	1	4
29941	Dominic Lawrence	Boise Spuds	3	5	8
		Las Vegas Hustlers	3	3	6
30705	Freddy Delgado	Atlantic City Gamblers	3	6	9
32529	Steven Bobovnik	Brooklyn Robins	3	2	5
35290	Enrico Rivera	New Orleans Crawdads	3	3	6
36727	Shotaro Kawamura	Sacramento Mad Popes	3	3	6
37365	Félix García	Charlotte Cougars	3	4	7
41331	Francisco Cardona	San Antonio Outlaws	3	5	8
41533	Al Colbert	Yellow Springs Nine	3	2	5
41607	Quentin Mullins	Vancouver Mounties	3	4	7
42645	John Olson	Valencia Stars	3	3	6
43053	Jorge Fuentes	Las Vegas Hustlers	3	4	7
43762	Richie Vanness	Vancouver Mounties	3	0	3
53714	Ernest Massey	Vancouver Mounties	3	0	3
54367	Leonardo Ramos	Omaha Cyclones	3	1	4
21734	Carlos Díaz	Boise Spuds	4	3	7
24549	Axel DeGiusti	Madison Wolves	4	0	4
		Omaha Cyclones	4	4	8
27931	Dan Forsyth	Mexico City Aztecs	4	2	6
28380	Thomas Rodríguez	Omaha Cyclones	4	5	9
31642	Esteban Sánchez	Jacksonville Hurricanes	4	4	8
33105	Robert Hobbs	Louisville Sluggers	4	1	5
33118	Ta-heng Hor	Nashville Bluebirds	4	9	13
35882	Luis Torres	Hawaii Tropics	4	2	6
36293	Hao Kun	Nashville Bluebirds	4	2	6
37460	Mubale Petiri	Long Beach Surfers	4	3	7
41937	Jean Kattenberg	Yellow Springs Nine	4	0	4
42597	Carlos Silva	Omaha Cyclones	4	1	5
42657	Sergio Costello	Madison Wolves	4	3	7
43475	Karel Beerens	Long Beach Surfers	4	6	10
43622	Octávio Martínez	Long Beach Surfers	4	9	13
16610	Lane Aldridge	Wichita Aviators	5	3	8
26342	Alexandre Doyle	Madison Wolves	5	2	7
36504	Nate Horswill	Phoenix Talons	5	3	8
37848	Jake García	Omaha Cyclones	5	11	16
38150	Jeffrey Russell	Charlotte Cougars	5	2	7
39829	Félix Sánchez	Atlantic City Gamblers	5	2	7
41254	Pepe Hernández	Boise Spuds	5	2	7
41558	Josh Henson	Yellow Springs Nine	5	7	12
42553	Greg Barker	Charm City Jimmies	5	4	9
42831	Eustace Tilley	Sacramento Mad Popes	5	6	11
43272	Tokimasa Ihara	Calgary Pioneers	5	2	7
43299	Mathieu Valette	Long Beach Surfers	5	1	6
43997	Carlos Pineda	Yellow Springs Nine	5	2	7
26908	Augusto Sánchez	Louisville Sluggers	6	11	17
		Las Vegas Hustlers	6	8	14
31195	R.J. Hughes	San Fernando Bears	6	2	8
33263	Ken Bates	Las Vegas Hustlers	6	10	16
36431	Stephen Taub	Hawaii Tropics	6	5	11
36730	Eduardo Reyes	Portland Lumberjacks	6	7	13
39193	José Sánchez	Yellow Springs Nine	6	9	15
39553	Raúl Silva	Vancouver Mounties	6	11	17
27850	Lee McHone	Charlotte Cougars	7	7	14
		Madison Wolves	7	8	15
		Louisville Sluggers	7	8	15
36176	Dean Rackham	Las Vegas Hustlers	7	9	16
		Las Vegas Hustlers	7	4	11
37399	António González	Las Vegas Hustlers	7	8	15
39223	Juan García	Des Moines Kernels	7	7	14
39886	Ángel Romero	Vancouver Mounties	7	10	17
40909	Damon Tipping	Wichita Aviators	7	16	23
41615	Don Smith	Phoenix Talons	7	11	18
		Omaha Cyclones	7	6	13
42281	Chandler Hall	Edmonton Jackrabbits	7	9	16
42666	Dave Lee	Yellow Springs Nine	7	4	11
		New Orleans Crawdads	7	14	21
45287	Johnny Hale	Las Vegas Hustlers	7	7	14
51472	Andrés Salinas	Louisville Sluggers	7	8	15
20896	Jaime Herrera	Madison Wolves	8	9	17
21940	Sixto Hernández	San Fernando Bears	8	7	15
30233	Cris Ríos	Brooklyn Robins	8	8	16
31449	Scotty Pendleton	Mexico City Aztecs	8	9	17
34229	Dusty García	Valencia Stars	8	7	15
35827	José Martínez	Edmonton Jackrabbits	8	4	12
37159	Manuel Andrés	Sacramento Mad Popes	8	4	12
38931	Sergio Rojas	Wichita Aviators	8	6	14
41016	Chet Dickinson	Wichita Aviators	8	11	19
41957	Jorge Alfaro	Long Beach Surfers	8	4	12
42759	Liam Thorpe	Twin Cities River Monsters	8	15	23
43147	Fekadu Bbosa	Edmonton Jackrabbits	8	11	19
		Omaha Cyclones	9	14	23
33884	Luis Oliva	Brooklyn Robins	9	9	18
34959	Ragnar Lothbrok	Twin Cities River Monsters	9	10	19
38908	Keijo Reini	Charlotte Cougars	9	14	23
		San Fernando Bears	9	7	16
41287	Tony Ramírez	New Orleans Crawdads	9	11	20
41514	Juan Ruíz	Nashville Bluebirds	9	6	15
42149	Juan García	Louisville Sluggers	9	7	16
42393	Bron Cortez	San Fernando Bears	9	8	17
22846	Kevin Morales	Atlantic City Gamblers	10	14	24
32972	Alvin Chartrand	Las Vegas Hustlers	10	6	16
35261	Kellen Scherer	Las Vegas Hustlers	10	9	19
		Valencia Stars	10	12	22
		Omaha Cyclones	10	11	21
40130	Pancho Germán	Boise Spuds	10	9	19
41526	Al Barton	San Fernando Bears	10	14	24
43316	Dani García	Sacramento Mad Popes	10	21	31
43343	Pedro Tañón	Des Moines Kernels	10	8	18
43378	Ernesto Delgado	Long Beach Surfers	10	10	20
43698	Gustavo Hernández	Vancouver Mounties	10	13	23
43809	Jim Wilkinson	Charm City Jimmies	10	11	21
31315	Josh Brown	Twin Cities River Monsters	11	17	28
31394	Niall Hanlon	Valencia Stars	11	5	16
33682	Tony Cabrera	Charlotte Cougars	11	5	16
37705	Ray Verhoeve	Portland Lumberjacks	11	16	27
39902	Sabir Askeri	Jacksonville Hurricanes	11	6	17
41571	Greg Palmer	Des Moines Kernels	11	9	20
42473	Emilio Brazini	Charlotte Cougars	11	10	21
43256	Raúl Álvarez	Long Beach Surfers	11	14	25
25364	Mauro Flores	Wichita Aviators	12	20	32
25903	Torazo Tanaka	Atlantic City Gamblers	12	7	19
31168	Jubal Troop	Edmonton Jackrabbits	12	19	31
32624	Chris Thomas	Calgary Pioneers	12	9	21
36842	Ryosei Akahori	Edmonton Jackrabbits	12	14	26
39349	Jorge Moreno	Montreal Blazers	12	19	31
40470	Bob Glenn	Mexico City Aztecs	12	11	23
42690	A.J. Mahoney	Mexico City Aztecs	12	12	24
43613	Kusuma Djojohadiksumo	Mexico City Aztecs	12	16	28
43963	Dwight Dunn	Rockville Pikemen	12	17	29
49461	Felipe Guevara	San Fernando Bears	12	10	22
19446	Domenic Blondell	Jacksonville Hurricanes	13	12	25
23258	Sergei Hopkins	San Fernando Bears	13	16	29
23466	Eru Likiliki	Nashville Bluebirds	13	14	27
25223	Tsunesaburo Hashimoto	Des Moines Kernels	13	19	32
26192	Takeo Aoki	Brooklyn Robins	13	15	28
29037	Donald Harris	Valencia Stars	13	13	26
34676	Yoshimatsu Yamaguchi	New Orleans Crawdads	13	11	24
37501	Luis Rojas	Charm City Jimmies	13	20	33
38415	Leroy Hoffman	Boise Spuds	13	6	19
39644	Amayas Moelling	Chicago Black Sox	13	21	34
42807	Paul Kemp	Chicago Black Sox	13	9	22
44698	Maup Manshert	Charm City Jimmies	13	15	28
31796	Nick Mobley	Jacksonville Hurricanes	14	17	31
32253	Edwin Gilliam	Calgary Pioneers	14	18	32
37035	Alejandro Ramírez	Jacksonville Hurricanes	14	18	32
38329	Jafar Haamid	Valencia Stars	14	18	32
40943	Zak Johnson	Hawaii Tropics	14	20	34
41395	Francisco Franco	Portland Lumberjacks	14	18	32
41687	Gerald Abbott	Las Vegas Hustlers	14	12	26
41951	Ricardo Rivera	San Antonio Outlaws	14	16	30
42421	Robin Cooper	Boise Spuds	14	19	33
42937	Guillermo Sánchez	Charlotte Cougars	14	17	31
44951	Kojuro Nishikawa	San Fernando Bears	14	17	31
45053	Yun Zhang	Rockville Pikemen	14	18	32
45393	Luis Espinosa	Brooklyn Robins	14	17	31
47336	Rubén Vázquez	San Antonio Outlaws	14	16	30
16666	Jim Armstrong	New Orleans Crawdads	15	14	29
23782	José Arellano	Calgary Pioneers	15	18	33
24376	Luis Colón	Phoenix Talons	15	16	31
29136	Mario Espinoza	Twin Cities River Monsters	15	12	27
31436	Júlio Alicea	Boise Spuds	15	19	34
32880	Charlie Iron-Knife	Phoenix Talons	15	16	31
34384	San-pao Shang	Seattle Storm	15	18	33
39849	Tomás Ramírez	Yellow Springs Nine	15	18	33
40314	Jerry Pacy	New Orleans Crawdads	15	13	28
41930	Augusto Morán	Atlantic City Gamblers	15	15	30
41959	Armando Feliciano	Louisville Sluggers	15	14	29
42132	Quintiliano Rodeia	Calgary Pioneers	15	14	29
42509	Kent Montoya	Boise Spuds	15	16	31
44027	Thiongo Amir	Atlantic City Gamblers	15	18	33
49372	Daniel Ávila	Vancouver Mounties	15	12	27
16420	José Lima	Omaha Cyclones	16	14	30
22782	Luther Summers	Seattle Storm	16	17	33
23942	Luis Gracía	Sacramento Mad Popes	16	16	32
28861	Pedro Rocha	Portland Lumberjacks	16	7	23
30342	Jefferson Pierce	Calgary Pioneers	16	17	33
30605	Héctor Amaral	Portland Lumberjacks	16	16	32
31446	Carlos Valle	Yellow Springs Nine	16	21	37
34164	Denis Pham	Mexico City Aztecs	16	16	32
34207	Elliot Buckland	Nashville Bluebirds	16	16	32
35122	Yrrigs Carpenter	San Antonio Outlaws	16	14	30
35685	Aki Kondo	San Antonio Outlaws	16	16	32
35907	Dermott Halford	Edmonton Jackrabbits	16	9	25
36177	Niccolo Destefani	Hawaii Tropics	16	17	33
36245	Héctor Márquez	Seattle Storm	16	17	33
37799	Cristián García	New Orleans Crawdads	16	8	24
37875	Han-lee Kim	Madison Wolves	16	18	34
39289	Juan Rodríguez	Brooklyn Robins	16	14	30
40203	Rodrigo Gallegos	Edmonton Jackrabbits	16	14	30
42215	Danya Tchekanov	Long Beach Surfers	16	17	33
42292	Yasir bin Lutfi	Seattle Storm	16	15	31
42658	Terrence Kelly	Portland Lumberjacks	16	17	33
43363	Juan Valdés	Twin Cities River Monsters	16	12	28
43662	Jonathan Merritt	Madison Wolves	16	19	35
44396	Chris Moran	Nashville Bluebirds	16	18	34
18377	Pierre Legrand	Brooklyn Robins	17	16	33
19080	Ken Walter	Seattle Storm	17	14	31
20444	Cornelio Lozano	Long Beach Surfers	17	14	31
25197	Juan Nicto	Chicago Black Sox	17	12	29
29169	Pepe Jaramillo	Chicago Black Sox	17	15	32
30004	Jaime Mercado	Phoenix Talons	17	13	30
30382	Cisco Morales	Sacramento Mad Popes	17	16	33
32206	Luis Pasillas	San Antonio Outlaws	17	13	30
35087	Lando Klomp	Vancouver Mounties	17	16	33
35286	Arthur Dempster	Rockville Pikemen	17	17	34
36250	Drees Geestman	Montreal Blazers	17	16	33
36997	Ernesto Ramos	Yellow Springs Nine	17	18	35
37371	César Aguilar	Phoenix Talons	17	14	31
37665	Adergazoz Ouakili	Charlotte Cougars	17	15	32
39406	Miguel Ayala	Vancouver Mounties	17	15	32
41757	Jorge Hernández	Montreal Blazers	17	15	32
41816	David Bates	Chicago Black Sox	17	16	33
42835	Shinsaku Ine	Mexico City Aztecs	17	15	32
43292	Tadamichi Ando	Montreal Blazers	17	15	32
25169	Bobby Lynch	Des Moines Kernels	18	14	32
34736	Dan Cannon	Rockville Pikemen	18	15	33
35315	Carlos Rodríguez	Jacksonville Hurricanes	18	12	30
36170	Chin Kim	Nashville Bluebirds	18	15	33
40859	Stan Palácios	Louisville Sluggers	18	13	31
41645	Lance Harrison	Montreal Blazers	18	15	33
41781	José Montoya	Wichita Aviators	18	13	31
41791	Yorikane Miyamoto	Madison Wolves	18	17	35
41891	Timo Dooley	Omaha Cyclones	18	14	32
16289	Chet Parrish	Atlantic City Gamblers	19	14	33
22707	Chris Kelly	Twin Cities River Monsters	19	13	32
25110	Miguel Ramos	Sacramento Mad Popes	19	13	32
30822	Dave Martin	Rockville Pikemen	19	14	33
35047	Feliciano Rafael	Charm City Jimmies	19	15	34
40146	Jorge García	Valencia Stars	19	16	35
42788	Timmy Karnes	Des Moines Kernels	19	14	33
43050	Mauro Ríos	Charm City Jimmies	19	14	33
43928	Alaric Wullenweber	Hawaii Tropics	19	16	35
28712	Takanori Goto	Wichita Aviators	20	11	31
41715	Jesús González	Hawaii Tropics	20	14	34

[Ted]

Fun! Thanks, Ron.

[RonCo]

Now I just need to spend time and make this a "standard" report that the script dumps.

Always more to do, I suppose.

[shoeless.db]

Well, with the consensus view that Sacramento has a supreme pitcher's park, Garcia could have been even better than his already great 2043 season. This bodes well for @HerbD .