Statistically speaking… who were the top 5 players last season? Major League Baseball Statistically speaking… who were the top 5 players last season?

Introduction Statistics can say so many different things. It all depends on how you represent the numbers. Have you ever wondered how they come up with the list of top players in any major sport? If you were asked to come up with a list of the top players in a specific sport, would your list be the same as your friends? Even if you used the same data? Let’s see what happens!

Task Your job will to be to work with your group to come up with a list of who you believe the top 5 major league baseball players are from last season (2007). To do this you will first learn about the statistics that are kept. Once you understand the statistics, and have found the formulas needed to generate each, you will then set out to find the statistics about the particular players. You can use players from the list provided, or other players as you so choose. You must decide which statistics make a player the “best” and be prepared to defend your decision. As a group, you will need to present your list to the class, complete with statistics, and your reason for using these statistics. You will also present to the teacher a paper which has the definitions and mathematical formulas for the statistics, a list of your statistics with their sources, and then your rationale for choosing these statistics to defend your list.

Process 1. A list of different baseball statistics will be given to you. You must become familiar with the list of statistics provided by the teacher by researching how the statistics are calculated and writing down the “formulas” for each. You can add to the list if there are different statistics that you wish to use in choosing your top players. This page of statistics, complete with definitions will be turned in to the teacher with your final paper. An easy way to find the methods behind calculating these stats is to do a Google search with calculating baseball statistics as the search. 2. Within your group, come to a consensus which 5 statistics you will use to determine which players are your top 5. This will get you started on your paper which will be turned in once the project is completed. 3. Now that you have chosen your most important statistics, you will set out to find the statistics on the players. There will be a list of top players given to you by the teacher. Or you may use others if you choose. Using the statistics you have deemed most important, you must then choose your number one player, number two player, and on down to the fifth. You must turn in your statistical findings in your paper. You must list each of the statistics you decided to focus on with your group (at least 5) for each player. You need to give the source for your statistics. There are tons of web pages you can use to get these statistics. Here are ones that I like: http://www.baseball-reference.com/ http://www.dougstats.com/ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/statistics http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/

Process continued… 4. The last section of your paper will be a written explanation of your process in making your decision. Be sure to talk about how you decided which statistics to use and why they were the most significant to you in determining the best players. Make sure that you defend your decisions. Why was your particular statistic most important in deciding which players were the best? 5. You and your group will be given 2-5 minutes in class to present your list, complete with your statistics and the reasoning behind your choice of statistics. To do this, you will create a PowerPoint, poster, newspaper article, mock ESPN show, or other method as approved by the teacher. Your presentation needs to be creative, organized, and most of all convincing! Be prepared to take some heat from the others in the class who made different decisions than you.

Evaluation You will be given a copy of the rubric which will be used to grade your project. If you should lose it, or want to look at it online, the link is: http://www.uen.org/Rubric/rubric.cgi?rubric_id=17477

LET’S PLAY BALL!!