A short note illustrating how paying attention to the real “numbers behind the numbers” can help you change your life.

Harry Pavlidis of Hardball Times recently discussed how Brian Bannister, a major league baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, analyzes the “numbers behind the numbers” to dig into his performance and refine his pitching approach:

Brian Bannister, a right-handed starter for the Kansas City Royals, revealed the key to his recent success: PITCHf/x. Bannister has studied the data, after a demotion to Triple-A, and found out he already had the tools to succeed, if he put them together the right way.

As Brian explained in an interview (transcribed in this comment):

I know how the numbers work. I know how OBP works. I know all the numbers that will never be printed in the newspaper. They’re slowly working their way on to major league scoreboards. But, how the game really works, it’s not what you see out there, and it’s not about short term emotions in games. It’s numbers behind numbers… it’s how the game works.

I’ve sold out to those numbers, and I’ve finally found a way, and by throwing that cutter 60 times a game to get the hitters to consistently hit the top half of the ball, and its the difference between being a 5.70 ERA guy and a 3.70 ERA guy.

How did Brian do it? As Dave Allen explains, Brian dug deep into his PITCHf/x numbers:

Bannister is a student of sabremetrics. Back in 2007 when he had a great ERA, build largely on a unsustainably low BABIP, he understood what was happening and that his current approach would not work going forward.

Brian knew his success in 2007 was unsustainable. His changed pitching approach for 2008 didn’t work out as planned, but he looked into the data again and devised an alternate approach for 2009 to accomplish the same goals, and this year, it’s working.

Brian understood that ERA was a “thin” measure of value, and that the “thick” measures lie deeper, in the “numbers behind the numbers” that baseball researchers have been developing and refining for the past twenty years.

Open-mindedness, adaptability, forward-thinking: that’s the kind of guy I can root for.

Why do I point this out? Merely to provide an example of how digging into the data behind our lives enables us to change our relationships, careers and lives. And by sharing our methods of inquiry and refinement with others, it can help other people evaluate and refine their own lives. That’s why we’re here, right?

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Yes, deep at heart, I’m still a baseball geek.