Troy Tulowitzki and the String of Causation

To read baseball statistics, one must see which statistics are directly derived from others and figure out how the string works. An example so far is Troy Tulowitzki. Not off to an incredible start and the direct reason is his decrease in BB%, from a career line of 9.5% to 5.1%, sure it's a small sample size but small sample sizes have reasons as well. He hasn't been able to draw a walk for his life in the first three weeks and it's the direct reason why he hasn't been hitting the ball like Ryan Braun or Matt Kemp. Tulowitzki comes from a great background being a first round pick out of the baseball-prestigious Long Beach State University, he routinely gets off to cold starts and it's probably just because he takes longer than other players to adjust to the in-game velocity, it's not the worst thing ever though considering he makes up for it in the latter months when some consider the game to mean even more. Ryan Braun put up 32 home runs last year while stealing 20 bases with a .386 OBP, so did Tulowitzki except for those pesky nine points missing on the OBP.

2010 National League Predictions

NL EAST
Phillies
Marlins
Braves
Mets
Nationals

NL CENTRAL

Cardinals
Reds
Astros
Brewers
Cubs
Pirates

NL WEST

Dodgers
Giants

Rockies
Diamondbacks
Padres

NL MVP: Ryan Braun
NL CY: Roy Halladay
NL RotY: Jason Heyward
Stephen Strasburg
Pedro Alvarez

1. The NL West is the hardest division to predict, by far. They have four teams who could all win that division, and four teams that could all do damage in the playoffs.

2. Ricky Nolasco makes a Cy Young bid.

3. The Reds take the Cardinals to a one-game playoff.

4. Joey Votto and Jay Bruce combine for 80 home runs.

5. Darkhorse MVP candidates: Chase Utley and Troy Tulowitzki.

2010 American League Predictions

AL EAST

Yankees

Rays
Red Sox
Orioles

Blue Jays

AL CENTRAL
Twins
White Sox
Tigers
Indians
Royals

AL WEST
Rangers
Angels
Athletics
Mariners

AL MVP: Evan Longoria
AL CY: Justin Verlander

AL RotY: Neftali Feliz
Brandon Wood
Michael Taylor

1. The three best teams in the American League are all in the East.

2. The next three best teams are all in the West.

3. Matt Wieters hits 30 home runs, Nelson Cruz hits 45 and Cliff Lee starts 20 games.

4. Brett Anderson wins 15 games with 200 K and a sub 3.50 ERA.

5. Brian Matusz, Carlos Santana, Michael Taylor, Chris Carter and Justin Smoak all become names you know. Gordon Beckham and Matt Wieters become stars.