Retrosheet, in addition to making large amounts of data easily downloadable into a personal database, has a ton of data on the web that’s easily available and interconnected. They just added some new data, including run support for pitchers.
I think as long as Win-Loss record is included in a pitcher’s stat line, Run Support should be, too. Sure, it says absolutely nothing about a pitcher’s skills, but Win-Loss record isn’t much better. Including Run Support would allow people to easily put Win-Loss record in context and would subtly (ok, maybe not so subtly) make the point that pitcher Wins and Losses are stupid. Here’s Bartolo Colon’s page, for example. Notice that his better records come in years with good run support. It’s not a coincidence.
In fact, I’ll throw a little small sample size evidence in here. The correlation between Colon’s winning percentage and ERA is .7 — pretty solid. But the correlation between Colon’s winning percentage and run support is .5 — definitely lower, but not by much. And Colon has no control over his run support.
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Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.