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Expanding Sabermetrics: Do College Graduates Perform Better in Pro Sports?

CSEF · 2014 Mathematics & Software

Connor M. Driscoll-Natale · Valencia Elementary School, Aptos, Santa Cruz County

Overview

Objectives/Goals I want to use statistics in a new way to find out if professional athletes who graduate from college perform better than those who don't. I believe that the hard work and focus required to graduate from college will transfer to better performance from college graduate pro athletes. I will analyze current performance statistics to determine if this is true. Methods/Materials I gathered data on college graduate pro ball players from several sports-related websites and sports almanacs. I researched their performance compared to the average for the league in seven specific areas. I determined statistical averages for Major League Baseball based upon the average player on the average team for the 2013 season. I expanded my comparison to include NBA basketball league statistics that were readily available from web sources. I graphed the performance data for each league to see if college graduates were above average performers. Results College graduates in pro baseball and pro basketball performed better than average in almost all selected categories. They performed significantly better in the categories related to hitting in baseball and to scoring in basketball (80% of the random sample college graduate players had better batting averages or average points per game). Conclusions/Discussion My statistical analysis shows college graduates do perform better in pro baseball and pro basketball. I would suggest that pro team owners and managers expand their use of multi-variable statistics in baseball (Sabermetrics) to include college graduation. My research shows that basketball teams should do the same.

Summary statement

I used statistics to determine if athletes who graduated from college performed better than average in professional baseball and basketball.

Help received

My parents helped me to set up the graph format in Microsoft Excel and I entered the statistics. They also helped to proofread my poster.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2014 Mathematics & Software · Entry J1404

Resources

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Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

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