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Seth Amitin

Joined about 1 month ago

  • 4 articles written
  • 7 comments posted
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Seth's Bio

I'm a 24-year-old sports editor at a local newspaper in La Canada, Calif., and I joined this because I like the idea of community journalism. I read Joe Posnanski, FireJoeMorgan.com and Baseball Prospectus regularly. Here's a quick list of terms I use in my essays:

1. ERA+ or OPS+ : Stands for Adjusted ERA/OPS. This stat is adjusted to account for the pitcher's or batter's era and the ballpark in which he plays. Pedro Martinez's 2000 season has a higher ERA+ than Sandy Koufax's 1966 season because Pedro pitched in a tougher hitters' era and in a much tougher ballpark. This is seriously an awesome stat, although it's not all-encompassing.

2. BABIP : Stands for Batting Average with Balls In Play. BABIP takes any ball that is in play, meaning any fair ball and any foul ball that's caught for an out, and makes a batting average out of it. The idea is to derive some sense of what happens when the ball actually gets into play. Line drives account for the most hits and groundouts create the most outs; flyballs sit somewhere in between.

3. VORP: Stands for Value Over Replacement Player. An extremely sophisticated stat that literally values how important one player is versus someone who can be brought up from the minors or waiver wire to replace him. The great thing about this stat is that it usually proves your hunch on a player correct, though sometimes shows that you're thinking too highly of a player. Good players have VORPs between 12-25, great players 25-40, elite players 40-90. Albert Pujols had a VORP of close to 90 in the 2008 year.

More will be added when I use them.

Seth Writes About

  • Seth's Play-by-Play

The Short List facts and information about Seth Amitin

Favorite Athletes

Sandy Koufax, Russell Martin, Troy Polamalu, Joey Porter, Lesean "Shady" McCoy

Favorite Sports Teams

Dodgers, Steelers, University of Pittsburgh football, basketball

All Time Sports Moment

Being on Forbes Ave. when the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005

Most Memorable Game Attended

2008 NLDS Game 3

Most Unbreakable Sports Record

Cy Young's career losses.

Ruth or Mays?

Mays

Unitas or Montana?

Montana

Pele or Maradona?

Pele (anyone who says otherwise is wrong)

Tiger or Nicklaus?

Tiger

Bulletin Board (7) Post a note »

  1. by J.C.
    26 days ago

    Greetings to all ghouls! Submitted for your holiday consideration:

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/73201-la-dodgers-hire-new-surgeon-dr-frankenstein

    Trick-or-treaters will find a selection of Whizzo confections to enjoy—including Crunchy Frog, Ram's Bladder Cup, Cockroach Cluster, Anthrax Ripple, and Spring Surprise.

  2. by Rory
    29 days ago

    Check out my World Series preview:

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/71690-10-keys-to-the-2008-world-series

  3. by Joey
    about 1 month ago

    Hey Seth. I really like your coverage regarding the LA Dodgers. Keep up the good work. I happen to run a sports website called SoCal Sports Hub (www.socalsportshub.com) and am looking for SoCal sports fans. Since you are a big Dodgers fan, would you have any interest in writing about the Blue Crew for SCSH? We could really use a LAD blogger. If so contact me at joey@socalsportshub.com.

  4. by J.C.
    about 1 month ago

    Nicely done with the definitions, great for referencing in your articles.

    La Canada local, that's just around the corner from me. Also, I attended St. Francis, so you neck of the wood isn't unknown to me.

    Which paper are you at? The Sun?

  5. by Steve
    about 1 month ago

    I retitled it "Sox in Need of a Win in Game Four" or something like that instead of "We Need a Win Tonight." I just thought the reader should know who needs a win and what sport it is, etc. But anyway, as long as you are happy with the article and it makes sense, then I'm happy.

    As long as the italicization and asteriks make sense then I see no problem with it. It was very well written and I just sort of got confused at the end.

  6. by Ryan
    about 1 month ago

    It's a personalized form of CMS. Instead of my lengthy paragraphs, I'll just hook you up with some links to a few cheat sheets.

    http://bleacherreport.com/pages/styleguide

    http://bleacherreport.com/pages/cheatsheet

    http://bleacherreport.com/pages/tips

    http://blog.bleacherreport.com/2008/02/10/br-writers’-tips-commonly-misspelled-sports-words-i/

    I hope this helps. Please don't hesitate to let me know of any questions or comments.

    Have a great day!

  7. by J.C.
    about 1 month ago

    Hey Seth -

    Thought I'd stop by and introduce myself, I'm the new community leader for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Welcome to Bleacher Report, hope you find the people and information here enjoyable.

    I've been asking member of the Dodgers community for the last few days who they think should be in the starting rotation and who should man the bullpen. Also, who should fill out the roster among fielders.

    Feel free to let me know you thoughts, or better yet, write an article on the subject.

    I really enjoyed your first article, but would recommend since you base so much on ERA+, it might be helpful to write a line or two as to how that differs from the standard ERA.

    Great job on inserting all the links, that's very helpful.

    I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of your writing.

    J.C.