Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34820461›Full record

ArticleOrthopaedic journal of sports medicine2021

Are Baseball Statistics an Appropriate Tool for Assessing Return to Play in Injured Pitchers? Analysis of Statistical Variability in Healthy Players.

Ayoosh Pareek, Chad W Parkes, Alexey A Leontovich, Aaron J Krych, Stan Conte, John A Steubs, Corey A Wulf, Christopher L Camp

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Ayoosh PareekDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Chad W ParkesDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Alexey A LeontovichDivision of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Aaron J KrychDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Stan ConteConte Injury Analytics, San Carlos, California, USA.
John A SteubsTRIA Orthopaedic Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Corey A WulfMinnesota Orthopedic Sports Medicine Institute, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Christopher L CampDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBasic pitcher statistics have been used to assess performance in pitchers after injury or surgery without being validated. Even among healthy pitchers, the normal variability of these parameters has not yet been established. PURPOSE: To determine (1) the normal variability of basic and advanced pitcher statistics in healthy professional baseball pitchers and (2) the minimum pitches needed to predict these parameters. STUDY

designCross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

methodsPublicly available data from the MLB Statcast and PITCHf/x databases were used to analyze MLB pitchers during the 2015 and 2016 seasons who recorded a minimum of 100 innings without injury. Basic and advanced baseball pitcher statistics were analyzed. The variability of each parameter was assessed by computing the coefficient of variation (CV) between individual pitchers and across all pitchers. A CV <10 was indicative of a relatively constant parameter, and parameters with a CV >10 were generally considered inconsistent and unreliable. The minimum number of pitches needed to be followed for each variable was also analyzed.

resultsA total of 118 pitchers, 55 baseball-specific statistical metrics (38 basic and 17 advanced), and 7.5 million pitches were included and analyzed. Of the 38 basic pitcher statistics, only fastball velocity demonstrated a CV <10 (CV = 1.5), while 6 of 17 (35%) advanced metrics demonstrated acceptable consistency (CV <10). Release position from plate and velocity from the plate were the 2 most consistent advanced parameters. When separated by pitch type, these 2 parameters were the most constant (lowest CV) across every pitch type.

conclusionWe recommend against utilizing nonvalidated statistical measures to assess performance after injury, as they demonstrated unacceptably high variability even among healthy, noninjured professional baseball pitchers. It is our hope that this study will serve as the foundation for the identification and implementation of validated pitcher-dependent statistical measures that can be used to assess return-to-play performance after injury in the future.

Indexed as

baseballMLBoverhead athletespitchingpredictive analyticsthrowing injuries

Identifiers

PMID34820461
PMCPMC8607485

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.