Analysis of Pitcher Data for the 2024 MLB Season

The website Baseball Savant contains a wealth of data regarding Major League Baseball (MLB) players, many of which is collected using proprietary technology owned and operated by MLB itself. Baseball Savant also allows users to download large data sets for their own personal use. This is where we got our data, compiling a file of every MLB pitcher to throw at least 50 pitches in a given month in the 2024 MLB season.

To answer this question, We created a pivot table in Excel. We included player name as a row label and average 4-seam fastball velocity and average arm angle on 4 seam fastball pitches as values. From there, We excluded submarine pitchers with a negative arm angle, as they are bio-mechanical outliers, making up less than 1% of the data set. Finally, We created a scatter plot to graph the relationship between arm angle and velocity

Question 1: For non-submarine pitchers in the MLB, does arm angle have an effect on velocity?

We examined the relationship between fastball velocity and arm angle. If there is any notable corrolation, a player who wants to throw harder can work on raising or lowering their arm angle in order to reach their goal.

We used Excel to create a weighted batting average by month. We grouped by the month, then used the batting average and pitches columns to calculate a weighted average for each month.

Question 2: Does batting average increase as the season progresses?

This question is interesting because it explores how player performance may evolve over the course of a baseball season. By analyzing trends in batting average month by month, we can uncover whether players tend to improve as they get more at-bats and settle into a rhythm, or whether fatigue and external factors cause performance to decline.

We used Excel to group all the pitches from the 2024 MLB season into launch angle intervals. We then created a histogram to visualize how frequently a range of launch angles were used. The histogram shows that most launch angles fall between -3 and 27 degrees

Question 3: How are ball launch angles distributed in the 2024 MLB season?

Launch angle has become a key metric in modern baseball analytics. It influences whether a ball becomes a grounder, line drive, fly ball, or home run. Understanding the distribution of launch angles can reveal patterns in player hitting tendencies, the effectiveness of certain hitting strategies, and how the league is evolving with the emphasis on launch angle optimization.

To answer this question, we used Excel to create a Pivot Table that grouped the data by pitch-type and calculated the average swing-miss percent for each. We then visualized the results using a horizontal bar chart, sorting the bars from highest to lowest to make comparisons easy. We also added data labels to clearly display the swing-and-miss percentage for each pitch type.

Question 4: How does swing-and-miss rate differ between different pitch types?

This question answers how effective different pitch types are at generating swings and misses. I chose this question and found it interesting because swing-and-miss percentage is a direct measure of a pitcher’s ability to overpower or deceive hitters. By identifying which pitches consistently cause batters to miss, we will know what types of pitches are most effective in Major League Baseball.