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- All Subjects: Baseball
- Creators: Department of Information Systems
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
Description
In recent years, advanced metrics have dominated the game of Major League Baseball. One such metric, the Pythagorean Win-Loss Formula, is commonly used by fans, reporters, analysts and teams alike to use a team’s runs scored and runs allowed to estimate their expected winning percentage. However, this method is not perfect, and shows notable room for improvement. One such area that could be improved is its ability to be affected drastically by a single blowout game, a game in which one team significantly outscores their opponent.<br/>We hypothesize that meaningless runs scored in blowouts are harming the predictive power of Pythagorean Win-Loss and similar win expectancy statistics such as the Linear Formula for Baseball and BaseRuns. We developed a win probability-based cutoff approach that tallied the score of each game once a certain win probability threshold was passed, effectively removing those meaningless runs from a team’s season-long runs scored and runs allowed totals. These truncated totals were then inserted into the Pythagorean Win-Loss and Linear Formulas and tested against the base models.<br/>The preliminary results show that, while certain runs are more meaningful than others depending on the situation in which they are scored, the base models more accurately predicted future record than our truncated versions. For now, there is not enough evidence to either confirm or reject our hypothesis. In this paper, we suggest several potential improvement strategies for the results.<br/>At the end, we address how these results speak to the importance of responsibility and restraint when using advanced statistics within reporting.
ContributorsIversen, Joshua Allen (Author) / Satpathy, Asish (Thesis director) / Kurland, Brett (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This thesis, entitled "A Community Perspective on Alcohol Education," was conducted over a ten month period during the Spring 2014 and Fall 2014 semesters, composed by Christopher Stuller and Nicholas Schmitzer. The research involved interviewing twelve professionals from Arizona State University and the City of Tempe to gather a holistic view on alcohol education and alcohol safety as it involves the students at ASU. Upon completion of the interviews, recommendations were made regarding areas of improvement for alcohol education and alcohol safety at Arizona State University. These recommendations range from creating a mandatory alcohol education class to passing a Guardian Angel Law to creating a national network of alcohol education best practices. Through this thesis, the authors hope to prevent future alcohol related injuries, deaths, and tragedies. For the final display of this thesis a website was created. For the ease of reading, all information has been presented in text format.
ContributorsSchmitzer, Nicholas (Co-author) / Stuller, Christopher (Co-author) / Koretz, Lora (Thesis director) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
This project looks at the change in strikeout patterns over the past 19 years of Major League Baseball. New research in 2001 revolutionized the pitching statistics field, and non-coincidentally, the number of strikeouts has ballooned since then. I first detail the statistical nature of the increase, looking at where the additional strikeouts are coming from. Then, a discussion of why this has happened, referencing changes in baseball strategy and talent usage optimization follows. The changes in the ways MLB teams use their pitching staffs are largely the cause of this increase. Similar research is cited to confirm that these strategy changes are valid and are having the effect of increasing strikeouts in the game. Strikeout numbers are then compared to other pitching statistics over the years to determine whether the increase has had any effect on other pitching metrics. Lastly, overall team success is looked at as a verification method as to whether the increased focus on increasing strikeouts has created positive results for major league teams. Teams making the MLB playoffs consistently ranked much higher than non-qualifying teams in terms of strikeout rates. Also included in the project are the details of data acquisition and manipulation, to ensure the figures used are valid. Ideas for future research and further work on the topic are included, as the amount of data available in this field is quite staggering. Further analysis could dive into the ways pitches themselves are changing, rather than looking at pitching outcomes. Overall, the project details and explains a major shift in the way baseball has been played over the last 19 years, complete with both pure data analysis and supplementary commentary and explanation
ContributorsCasalena, Jontito (Author) / Doig, Stephen (Thesis director) / Pomrenke, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In baseball, a starting pitcher has historically been a more durable pitcher capable of lasting long into games without tiring. For the entire history of Major League Baseball, these pitchers have been expected to last 6 innings or more into a game before being replaced. However, with the advances in statistics and sabermetrics and their gradual acceptance by professional coaches, the role of the starting pitcher is beginning to change. Teams are experimenting with having starters being replaced quicker, challenging the traditional role of the starting pitcher. The goal of this study is to determine if there is an exact point at which a team would benefit from replacing a starting or relief pitcher with another pitcher using statistical analyses. We will use logistic stepwise regression to predict the likelihood of a team scoring a run if a substitution is made or not made given the current game situation.
ContributorsBuckley, Nicholas J (Author) / Samara, Marko (Thesis director) / Lanchier, Nicolas (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
I'm a business major. As a matter of fact, I don't have a lot of opportunities to participate in projects where I can design and build things as my engineering friends do. In fact, I'm not good at building things. And perhaps that's why I soon figured out that Engineering school isn't for me. But business alone seems to be not enough; I crave for something new and exciting and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a design on paper becoming a tangible product in hands. For that reason, I decided to join InnovationSpace after learning about the program from my professor and my friends who were in the program. My goal through the program is to deliver a product that people find useful, and hopefully, has an impact on their lives.
“InnovationSpace is an entrepreneurial joint venture among the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, W.P. Carey School of Business and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. The goal […] is to develop products that create market value while serving real societal needs and minimizing impacts on the environment. Put simply, we seek to create products that are progressive, possible and profitable. At the same time, they must have a meaningful impact on the daily lives of ordinary people. InnovationSpace utilizes two fundamental strategies for creating sustainable innovation: a model of new product development known as Integrated Innovation and the emerging field of biomimicry.” — InnovationSpace program syllabus
The focus of the project outlined by Cisco is “to understand the needs of people who face physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, and develop new products and services for them utilizing the potential of the new technologies called the Internet of Things.” In other words, I am challenged to leverage the Internet of Things technologies to develop a device that benefits individuals with disabilities.
The final product is an automated airport cart — Chariot. Based on stakeholders’ needs interviews, we find that visually impaired people experience difficulties navigating the airport when they need to travel. Many airports attempt to solve this problem by offering wheelchair. However, visually impaired people feel that they are treated unfairly and become dependent on the wheelchairs. Chariot strives to solve this problem by applying the same concept in autonomous vehicle to guide the users through the airport. The users receive their itinerary email that will link to the Chariot app on their phones. When they arrive at the airport, the users simply connect their phones with Chariot and information such as gate number and departure time will be updated in the cart so that Chariot can guide the users to the desired destination. Ultimately, Chariot aims to give visually impaired people more control over their lives.
“InnovationSpace is an entrepreneurial joint venture among the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, W.P. Carey School of Business and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. The goal […] is to develop products that create market value while serving real societal needs and minimizing impacts on the environment. Put simply, we seek to create products that are progressive, possible and profitable. At the same time, they must have a meaningful impact on the daily lives of ordinary people. InnovationSpace utilizes two fundamental strategies for creating sustainable innovation: a model of new product development known as Integrated Innovation and the emerging field of biomimicry.” — InnovationSpace program syllabus
The focus of the project outlined by Cisco is “to understand the needs of people who face physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, and develop new products and services for them utilizing the potential of the new technologies called the Internet of Things.” In other words, I am challenged to leverage the Internet of Things technologies to develop a device that benefits individuals with disabilities.
The final product is an automated airport cart — Chariot. Based on stakeholders’ needs interviews, we find that visually impaired people experience difficulties navigating the airport when they need to travel. Many airports attempt to solve this problem by offering wheelchair. However, visually impaired people feel that they are treated unfairly and become dependent on the wheelchairs. Chariot strives to solve this problem by applying the same concept in autonomous vehicle to guide the users through the airport. The users receive their itinerary email that will link to the Chariot app on their phones. When they arrive at the airport, the users simply connect their phones with Chariot and information such as gate number and departure time will be updated in the cart so that Chariot can guide the users to the desired destination. Ultimately, Chariot aims to give visually impaired people more control over their lives.
ContributorsNguyen, Khanh Hoang Tuan (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Hedges, Craig (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In the past ten years, the United States’ sound recording industries have experienced significant decreases in employment opportunities for aspiring audio engineers from economic imbalances in the music industry’s digital streaming era and reductions in government funding for career and technical education (CTE). The Recording Industry Association of America reports promises of music industry sustainability based on increasing annual revenues in paid streaming services and artists’ high creative demand. The rate of new audio engineer entries in the sound recording subsection of the music industry is not viable to support streaming artists’ high demand to engineer new music recordings. Offering CTE programs in secondary education is rare for aspiring engineers with insufficient accessibility to pursue a post-secondary or vocational education because of financial and academic limitations. These aspiring engineers seek alternatives for receiving an informal education in audio engineering on the Internet using video sharing services like YouTube to search for tutorials and improve their engineering skills. The shortage of accessible educational materials on the Internet restricts engineers from advancing their own audio engineering education, reducing opportunities to enter a desperate job market in need of independent, home studio-based engineers. Content creators on YouTube take advantage of this situation and commercialize their own video tutorial series for free and selling paid subscriptions to exclusive content. This is misleading for newer engineers because these tutorials omit important understandings of fundamental engineering concepts. Instead, content creators teach inflexible engineering methodologies that are mostly beneficial to their own way of thinking. Content creators do not often assess the incompatibility of teaching their own methodologies to potential entrants in a profession that demands critical thinking skills requiring applied fundamental audio engineering concepts and techniques. This project analyzes potential solutions to resolve the deficiencies in online audio engineering education and experiments with structuring simple, deliverable, accessible educational content and materials to new entries in audio engineering. Designing clear, easy to follow material to these new entries in audio engineering is essential for developing a strong understanding for the application of fundamental concepts in future engineers’ careers. Approaches to creating and designing educational content requires translating complex engineering concepts through simplified mediums that reduce limitations in learning for future audio engineers.
ContributorsBurns, Triston Connor (Author) / Tobias, Evan (Thesis director) / Libman, Jeff (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Wisdom on Adulting is a blog created for high school and college students to learn about important aspects of becoming an adult. Specifically, topics that can seem daunting and confusing if tackled without guidance. The adult responsibilities of taking control of one’s finances, personal development, and work life are referred to informally by Millennials and Generation Z as “Adulting”. The blog is educational by nature but designed to be entertaining to read and simple to understand. The goal of the blog is to cover important lessons in a conversational tone and to hopefully help the readers. The tone of the writing emulates a conversation with an older friend, making the topics covered intriguing and actionable. The four main categories that the posts fall into are college, work, finances, and personal development. Many of the articles fit into more than one of the categories as they are meant to build the reader all around as person. Blog format was chosen because it is short form and popular among the target audience who prefer online content over print. In writing this creative project, I referred to successful bloggers for style guidance, tone of writing, and notes on blogging standards. Inspiration for the topics of the posts was gathered from friends and family who fit into the target audience, 18-22 years old.
ContributorsGreer, Gina Elisheva (Author) / Duerden, Sarah (Thesis director) / Blackmer, Cindie (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Pandora is a play exploring our relationship with gendered technology through the lens of artificial intelligence. Can women be subjective under patriarchy? Do robots who look like women have subjectivity? Hoping to create a better version of ourselves, The Engineer must navigate the loss of her creation, and Pandora must navigate their new world. The original premiere run was March 27-28, 2018, original cast: Caitlin Andelora, Rikki Tremblay, and Michael Tristano Jr.
ContributorsToye, Abigail Elizabeth (Author) / Linde, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Abele, Kelsey (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Over the past several decades, analytics have become more and more prevalent in the game of baseball. Statistics are used in nearly every facet of the game. Each team develops its own processes, hoping to gain a competitive advantage over the rest of the league. One area of the game that has struggled to produce definitive analytics is amateur scouting. This project seeks to resolve this problem through the creation of a new statistic, Valued Plate Appearance Index (VPI). The problem is identified through analysis that was performed to determine whether any correlation exists between performances at the country's top amateur baseball league, the Cape Cod League, and performances in Major League Baseball. After several stats were analyzed, almost no correlation was determined between the two. This essentially means that teams have no way to statistically analyze Cape Cod League performance and project future statistics. An inherent contextual error in these amateur statistics prevents them from correlating. The project seeks to close that contextual gap and create concrete, encompassing values to illustrate a player's offensive performance in the Cape League. To solve for this problem, data was collected from the 2017 CCBL season. In addition to VPI, Valued Plate Appearance Approach (VPA) and Valued Plate Appearance Result (VPR) were created to better depict a player's all-around performance in each plate appearance. VPA values the quality of a player's approach in each plate appearance. VPR values the quality of the contact result, excluding factors out of the hitter's control. This statistic isolates player performance as well as eliminates luck that cannot normally be taken into account. This paper results in the segmentation of players from the 2017 CCBL into four different groups, which project how they will perform as they transition into professional baseball. These groups and the creation of these statistics could be essential tools in the evaluation and projection of amateur players by Major League clubs for years to come.
ContributorsLothrop, Joseph Kent (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This work presents a client with a unique business problem with the creation of a user friendly check-in system and more specifically an application that would replace the current manual system that is in place. Two possibilities were analyzed and considered in order to reduce reliance on paper tracking. Initially a mobile application was considered where only users who have the QR code can access through PhoneGap with a barcode scanner. The second possibility was taking the initial plan and expanding it into a fully responsive website with strict user access control that could go from desktop, to laptop, to tablet, and to phones. This would allow users to access the application from something other than a mobile device.
ContributorsLebratti, Thalia Karesse (Author) / Ahmad, Altaf (Thesis director) / Mazzola, Daniel (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12