Baseball Prospectus 2017

by Baseball Prospectus, Glen Perkins Minnesota Twins Pitcher (Foreword), Aaron Gleeman (Editor)

The 2017 edition of The New York Times Bestselling Guide. The 22nd edition of this industry-leading baseball annual contains all of the important regular and advanced statistics, player predictions and insider-level commentary that readers have come to expect, along with significant improvements to several statistics that were created by, and are exclusive to, Baseball Prospectus. Baseball Prospectus 2017 provides fantasy players and insiders alike with prescient PECOTA projections, which The New York Times called “the überforecast of every player’s performance.” With forty-five Baseball Prospectus alumni currently working for major-league baseball teams, nearly every organization has sought the advice of current or former Prospectus analysts, and readers of Baseball Prospectus 2017 will understand what all those insiders have been raving about!

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Reference

576 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2017

About the author

Baseball Prospectus is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team performance projections on the site.

Since 1996 the BP staff has also published a Baseball Prospectus annual as well as several other books devoted to baseball analysis and history.

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, the entries on individual players are the gold standard. That's why I buy the Prospectus and it never disappoints.

I also read the team essays, though, and they're up and down. A few years ago, they all read like job interviews for major league front offices--a ton of BP writers are working in the industry and that's cool, but it's not what I'm looking for as a fan. This year the problem was on the far other side; a good handful of essays read like they were written by literature or philosphy grad students showing off. We get Nietzsche, Schopenauer. The most irritating of that kind was the one on my Colorado Rockies, who are discussed in relation to an understanding of Taoism that has very little to do with my understanding of Taoism.

I found myself really missing Bill James' old Baseball Abstracts, which kept their eyes firmly on what the numbers had to do with the game. There are a bunch of essays in this year's Prospectus that stand up to that standard, but not enough to make me a happy campter.

[Daniel Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for the serious baseball fan. The player capsules are informative, with sound analysis mingled with wit and the odd foray into downright silliness. The essays introducing each team range from sound to profound, with some exceptional long form writing and topics far beyond the (sports) MSM. And Matthew Trueblood's "The Modern Manager" essay is the crown jewel.

[North Landesman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to have this every year. My favorite projection system, and it always helps me prepare for my draft. Every baseball fan should read this.

[whit · Rating 4 out of 5]

IT's exactly what I thought it would be, a fact-filled, well-written guide to the upcoming MLB season.

[Steven Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A necessary book for baseball nerds, and a must-read before and after the season.

[Rodger Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This annual is consistently readable and interesting. I have all versions of BP, including the 1996 volume before they had a publisher.

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still the daddy. Although after a while all the stats begin to blur into one and you have to wonder if it's worthwhile for any fan to keep up.

[Nick Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Annual is a must-read for me, but I have to admit: it's like watching later-years episodes of your favorite show. Not quite as good as previous seasons (the ones that got you hooked in the first place), but certainly serviceable in their own right, and definitely worth the time investment. This year, catcher framing numbers are added, and the managerial comments section has been taken from the individual team essay, and made into its own section. The player comments are fun, and sometimes witty, but there are a few that go a bit too far in trying to make a joke (not exactly the Christina Kahrl hey-day). Mostly, I'm disappointed in the team essays this year. While my Angels have a decent enough essay, many of the other teams contain large digressions into philosophy, or other inane space-eating realms, and get drastically off-topic. Fans of those teams must be really turned off by the lack of analysis for their favorites--is there not enough to cover for each team, or is this really the best writing BP could find? For many years, BP's natural strength was not just mind-bending analysis (which the current crop of writers excels at, at least to the level--if not better--than previous teams), but also the excellent writing. Kahrl, Jaffe, Sheenan, Silver, et al. could turn a phrase, add gravitas, and inject humor into baseball analysis in ways that other sites/books could not. The essays of years past were far less indulgent, and far more in-depth examinations of the strengths and weaknesses of every team. Not all is sour grapes, it's just more like season 7 of The Next Generation, than it is season 4.

[Matt Suder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annually essential

[Parashar B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still great, after all these years.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A full blown review of today's MLB players and their projections for the near future. Pretty thorough and a ton of information- more than you'll ever need!