Rob Neyer was wrong at least once previously on MLB Network Clubhouse Confidential, self describes as the program for the "thinking fan". See this post:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012 MLB Clubhouse Confidential: wrong on AJ.
I sent a message about this to both Neyer, through his website, and to MLB CC but neither responded.
On that Feb. 10 program Neyer stated something categorically that did not sound right and turned out to be incorrect. He simply did not bother to check.
On a recent program (March 6, I think) host Brian Kenny was making extended remarks about batting average on balls in play (BABIP). I have reservations about this but they are not the point of this post. The point is that Neyer again stated something categorically without any supporting data. Maybe Neyer was correct but his prior mistake made his more recent comment sound hollow.
He is sure that Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander was lucky in 2011 and that there is no way he can repeat his low BABIP of .237; .287 for his career.
One thing that amazes me about the BABIP mania is why its advocates bother with it at all when each plate appearance is tracked and can be categorized as lucky or unlucky by some definition. I can see some value in looking at the 1927 Yankees for whom we do not have such detail but for 2011 I don't get it.
I do not have access to that level of detail and cannot challenge Neyer about Verlander as I did about AJ Burnett. Maybe Neyer is correct. I'd just like to see some facts.
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