The variety of defensive positions make very different physical demands on players, from the highly taxing battery positions to the general immobility of 1B and between-PAs relaxation of a DH. We might expect, then, that the hitting performance of catchers would decline more during a game than that of DHs. Kilgo and his research team examine this hypothesis, using all 2004-2008 plate appearances as their study sample. After accounting for other factors, such as batting order, pitching changes, and batting skill, they quantify the contribution of defensive position to in-game offensive changes.

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Patrick

Pat Kilgo is on faculty in the Biostatistics Department at the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, where he teaches graduate methods courses and performs cardiothoracic surgery clinical research. His baseball interests are varied, though most of his effort goes into book collecting and a serious Braves devotion. He shares his life with his wife Michelle and four children. Brian Schmotzer, Paul Weiss, and Lisa Elon are Kilgo’s colleagues at Emory. Jeff Switchenko is currently a PhD student in Biostatistics at Emory. In 2006, he received a BA in Mathematics with a minor in Chemistry from Bowdoin College. Born and raised in Boston, Jeff is a lifelong Red Sox fan, and grew up idolizing the likes of John Valentin, Troy O’Leary, and Brian Daubach.