SHOULD BASEBALL MANAGERS CONSIDER A PITCHER’S SIZE? EVIDENCE FROM RECENT MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL DATA REGARDING SIZE AND PERFORMANCE
MARTIN GRITSCH
William Paterson University, College of Business, 1600 Valley Road, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA.
TRICIA SNYDER *
William Paterson University, College of Business, 1600 Valley Road, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Many baseball managers believe that pitchers who are bigger or taller have better pitching performance. Since 1960, over ninety percent of all pitchers have been six feet or taller. In this study, we use 2013 Major League Baseball data to examine whether being taller and bigger improves pitching performance. We found little evidence that a pitcher’s height or weight make him a better pitcher. In fact, some of our results suggest that being taller leads to poorer pitching outcomes. However, the main result in our research is that most estimates are not statistically significant, suggesting that neither height nor weight impact pitching performance.
Keywords: Major league baseball, pitching, height and weight