Changing the ERA basis?

[iscore@tragus.org]

I've scored four games for our season so far and we have between one and three games tomorrow to wrap up the tournament. The coach asked tonight if I can change the ERA to be based on 7 innings versus 9. I know I can change the number of innings for new games going forward but is it possible to make a change now without having to re-score all of the games?

[OhioTex]

yes you are in luck.... here is what you need to know and do..

first the stat you will care about is ERG . Which earned runs per given number of innings you select (ERG = ERA when innings are 9)

go to your past game in game manager, select it, select play, .. now at game over screen, .. select the tool icon in the bottom right, change your innings to 7. now the ERG based on 7 innings will be the stat you get and care about. ERA is still and always will be based on 9 innings by definition. but not the ERG column, you set the number it cares about, in this case 7

[iscore@tragus.org]

Thanks man, you rock. This app just keeps getting better! (And one of these days I'll know what I'm doing and won't make as many mistakes.)

[davidlimbaugh]

yes you are in luck.... here is what you need to know and do..

first the stat you will care about is ERG . Which earned runs per given number of innings you select (ERG = ERA when innings are 9)

go to your past game in game manager, select it, select play, .. now at game over screen, .. select the tool icon in the bottom right, change your innings to 7. now the ERG based on 7 innings will be the stat you get and care about. ERA is still and always will be based on 9 innings by definition. but not the ERG column, you set the number it cares about, in this case 7

I have now scored 42 innings of high school baseball with your great app. Great but....

We have already discussed this but not letting us change the ERA to be based on 7 innings IS a show-stopper. Local radio-stations and newspaper reporters have no clue what ERG means but do recognize ERA. And High School baseball pitchers ERA has always been based on 7 innings - ask Baseball America if ya don't believe me.

Add in the fact that we can't get the correct earned runs pending a future release and we can't edit games after the fact as well as some other apps let us...

I guess I am just frustrated because after each game I have to remember to fix a couple of pitchers earned runs and I have to remember to edit the ERA by hand and I dread doing this once our 30 game regular season and post-season begins - see what I mean???

[FTMSupport]

We understand what you are saying, but we can not start changing the defintion of what the statistic are.

Where does it say on Baseball America that ERA is 7 innings? We searched and could not find it.

They host information for both colleges and high schools. If ERA represents 9 innings for college and 7 innings for high school, then you can not compare a college pitcher's ERA to a high school pitcher's ERA. It would be the only statistic that is not an apples to apples comparison. By every definition we have seen, this would be wrong.

We can not find a definition of ERA that says it is an average of earned runs per scheduled innings in the game. The definition of ERA is earned runs per 9 innings.

For example, baseball almanac (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/stats2.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) shows ERA to be calculated as:

(Number of Earned Runs x 9) divided by (Number of Innings Pitched)

They clearly get the idea of variables because everything except the number 9 is spelled out. If ERA could change based on the number of scheduled innings in a game, it would written as:

(Number of Earned Runs) x (Number of Scheduled Innings) divided by (Number of Innings Pitched)


That is not how it is defined however.

If anyone can give a web link to an official source (not somebody's blog entry) that says ERA is defined in a way different than 9 innings, we would like to see it.

The ERG is our answer to this situation without changing the definition of ERA.

[davidlimbaugh]

I hate to be a meanie about this. I have emailed a couple of friends of mine, the editor of high school baseball for Baseball America and one of my many MLB amateur scouting friends asking them to help me in my 'cause'

When you have ran the Warrior Spring Classic for 13 years, a 40-team, high school baseball tournament with teams from around the southeast United States with alumni that fills SEC rosters and some MLB ones, including David Price and Brian Morris (40 man roster for the Pirates) and Mike McKenry (40 man roster of the Rockies) and more, you make some friends in baseball Even won the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Distinguished Achievement Award a couple of years ago. I can assure you that high school baseball ERA IS based on 7 innings - honest (ducking now - LOL!!!!)

[davidlimbaugh]

From Nathan Rode, editor of high school baseball for Baseball America

"David,

When we calculate high school ERAs we use seven innings in the equation
since the standard high school game is seven innings. Nine innings is only
used at the next level (college and beyond) and in the rare occasion that
we calculate stats for a showcase, because they typically play nine inning
games."

Thanks Nathan!

[FTMSupport]

Trying to not be too repetitive, but if we can get a link at an official source, that would be very helpful. Every official source we have found says ERA is based on 9 innings.

We are not clear what the issue here is when we are giving you just what you are looking for with the ERG statistic. It is exactly what you are asking for, and even accounts for "the rare occassion ... for a showcase" and will still come up with a consistent ERA for that player. In your scenario of an ERA always being 7 innings, the "showcase games" would not work.

We have put a lot of research into this, and without an official source (not a 3rd party email, but an actual link that we can reference if we were to make a change), we do not feel comfortable changing the definition of ERA.

Thank you.

[davidlimbaugh]

National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Rule Book

Rule 9.7.2.D

ERA ... Divide Total Runs Earned by Total Innings Pitched and Multiply by SEVEN ....

You will not be able to find this online because NFHS wants to SELL their rule books. But this is the rule. Honest.

[FTMSupport]

If they make us pay for the rules, it is very hard for us to find them. We would still love to see a link, but you have done an amazing amount of research trying to prove your case.

Here is what we will do... in an upcoming release, we will add a setting where you can say you want your ERA calculation to match the ERG calculation. We still disagree until proven otherwise, but we really do try to make our customers requests top priorities, and this will give you a way to see what you want in the ERA column.

If you can not wait for that release (we will fit it in as soon as we can, but have higher priorities right now), we can think of two options. You can always export to any of the various formats we support, and rename the ERG column to ERA, and rename the ERA column to "REAL ERA" (just a friendly nudge... you can delete the column if you like). The second option we can offer is if you currently have a Team Website, or want to get a Team Website, we can configure your website to show ERA using the ERG calculation right now... if you want to go with that option, just let us know your customer ID and Team Name by email.