Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The dynamics of performance space of Major League Baseball pitchers 1871–2006

  • Published:
Annals of Operations Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A central decision-maker, the principal, employs performance evaluation criteria consistent with an organization’s overall goal(s) to measure the effectiveness of the agents who execute decisions and implement strategies within a specified period. The dataset of performance criteria spanning the performance space will change over time to reflect the principal’s strategic modifications. This paper applies a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) based approach to reveals the dynamics of the performance space of Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers with minimum subjective judgment imposed on the data. The proposed approach is applied to data on MLB pitchers from 1871 to 2006. We conclude that many of the findings are consistent with the observations of baseball’s experts. The approach also suggests new directions for investigating a large dataset to identify revealed preferences or strategies by using historical and modern observations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alexander, A. J., & Nelson, J. R. (1973). Measuring technological change: Aircraft turbine engines. Technology Forecasting and Social Change, 5, 189–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, R. T., & Sharp, G. P. (1997). A new measure of baseball batters using DEA. Annals of Operations Research, 73, 141–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banker, R. D., Charnes, A., & Cooper, W. W. (1984). Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiency in data envelopment analysis. Management Science, 30(9), 1078–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carminati, M. (2004). A graphical history of relief pitching. http://www.baseballgraphs.com/main/index.php/site/article/a_graphical_history_of_relief_pitching/. Accessed August 5, 2008.

  • Casu, B., Shaw, D., & Thanassoulis, E. (2005). Using a group support system to aid input-output identification in DEA. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 56(12), 1363–1372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., & Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. European Journal of Operational Research, 2, 429–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinca, C. S., & Molinero, C. M. (2004). Selecting DEA specifications and ranking units via PCA. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 55, 521–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, W. D., & Zhu, J. (2007). Classifying inputs and outputs in data envelopment analysis. European Journal of Operational Research, 180(2), 692–699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dyson, R. G., Allen, R., Camanho, A. S., Podinovski, V. V., Sarrico, C. S., & Shale, E. A. (2001). Pitfalls and protocols in DEA. European Journal of Operational Research, 132, 245–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golany, B., & Roll, Y. (1989). An application procedure for DEA. Omega, 17(3), 237–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hadley, L., & Ruggiero, J. (2006). Final-offer arbitration in major league baseball: A nonparametric analysis. Annals of Operations Research, 145, 201–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, B. (2003). The new Bill James historical baseball abstract. Glencoe: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, S., & Russell, R. R. (2002). Technological change, technological catch-up, and capital deepening: Relative contributions to growth and convergence. American Economic Review, 92(3), 527–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, H. F., & Sexton, T. R. (2004). Data envelopment analysis with reverse inputs and outputs. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 21(2), 113–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovell, C. A. K., & Pastor, J. T. (1997). Target setting: An application to the branch network of a bank. European Journal of Operational Research, 98, 290–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Major League Baseball (2008). MLB Miscellany: Rules, regulations and statistics. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp. Accessed August 11, 2008.

  • Pastor, J. T., Ruiz, J. L., & Sirvent, I. (2002). A statistical test for nested radial DEA models. Operations Research, 50(4), 728–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastor, J. T., Lovell, C. A. K., & Tulkens, H. (2006). Evaluating the financial performance of bank branches. Annals of Operations Research, 145, 321–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, E. M. (1962). Diffusion of innovations. Glencoe: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simar, L., & Wilson, P. W. (2008). Statistical inference in nonparametric frontier models: Recent developments and perspectives. In H. O. Fried, C. A. K. Lovell, & S. S. Schmidt (Eds.), The measurement of productive efficiency and productivity growth. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timmer, M. P., & Los, B. (2005). Localized innovation and productivity growth in Asia: An intertemporal DEA approach. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 23(1), 47–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wanger, J. M., & Shimshak, D. G. (2007). Stepwise selection of variables in data envelopment analysis: Procedures and managerial perspectives. European Journal of Operational Research, 180, 57–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Wen-Chih Chen

  2. Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Andrew L. Johnson

Authors
  1. Wen-Chih Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrew L. Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew L. Johnson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chen, WC., Johnson, A.L. The dynamics of performance space of Major League Baseball pitchers 1871–2006. Ann Oper Res 181, 287–302 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-010-0743-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-010-0743-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation