k/walk ratio question

[backup catchers]

I know the value of the k/walk ratio but I'm curious if it can be used across the board for every type of pitcher. My question is if you have a guy who doesn't k a lot of guys but doesn't walk many either does the sample size become to small to really be a good indicator? Groundball pitchers can be effective and have very few k's. If they get a game or two when they are a wild it can take a long time for the rate to even out yet it is only a couple bad outings in a season that can really screw up the total. I'm more or less talking about relievers since it a couple bad innings can be a fairly big chunk of a season.

[BillScottCanRake]

From my own amature point of view, I generally prefer K/9 and BB/9, because the ratio doesn't tell give us an indication of those raw numbers, and they are, in my opinion, more important.

 

Three guys can have an identical 2:1 K/BB ratio, but their K and BB rates can be very different and they can have three very different levels of effectiveness because of it.

 

Guy A might have a 8k/9:4bb/9 ratio, and he's probably walking too many hitters.

 

Guy B might be 6k/9:3bb/9, his lower walk total may be more benifical than the lose in K's.

 

Guy C might have be a 4k/9:2bb/9 guy, and while his low walk total is great, he might strike out too few guys to be successful consistently.

 

With regard to small samples skewing numbers, I think that's a potential problem with pretty much every stat/number associated with relievers. My preference for using K and BB rate stats is just as effected by a clunker outing as the k:bb ratio you asked about.

[rluzinski]

Yeh, ratios can be misleading. It's probably better to look at K/(K +BB) or just the rates individually.