Baseball Prospectus: 2001 Edition [Paperback]

Joseph Sheehan (Author), Chris Kahrl (Author), Clay Davenport (Author)

Book Description

Series: Baseball Prospectus | Publication Date: January 30, 2001

Here's the book that ESPN Sportzone's Rob Neyer called "the best book of its kind." Updated for the 2001 season, the BASEBALL PROSPECTUS analyzes every top player in each organization all the way down to rookie ball, with objective, intelligent commentary and irreverent humor. The PROSPECTUS gives the final word on what the players did, why they did it, and what they're going to do in the future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best book overall for preparing for a rotisserie draft." John Hunt, fantasy baseball writer, BASEBALL WEEKLY

From the Publisher

Baseball Prospectus 2001 is the one source for all the inside information and original analysis that every true baseball fan needs on all the players of today and tomorrow. Only Baseball Prospectus contains complete analyses of the top players in each organization from the stars all the way down to rookie ball, and does so with objective, intelligent commentary and irreverent humor. Baseball Prospectus gives you the final word on what the players did, why they did it and what they're going to do in the future. Baseball Prospectus 2001's special features include in-depth commentary on 1644 players; complete Davenport Translation information, including Peripheral ERA, and evaluations of players' secondary as well as their primary defensive position; Michael Wolverton's starting and relief pitcher performance tools and Rany Jazayerli's new and improved Pitcher Abuse Points analysis; forecasts of hitter performance using Clay Davenport's exclusive "Wilton" forecasting system; Keith Woolner's pitcher abuse research; Clay Davenport's research on park factors; this year's Top 40 Minor League Prospects, and more.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books (January 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574883232
• ISBN-13: 978-1574883237
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always a fun read, February 20, 2001

By 

COLIN T. WILLIAM Germany - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Prospectus: 2001 Edition (Paperback)

This is my third edition of BP, and the book is consistently excellent. The player comments have softened overall across the years, but they're still not without their humor, and the commentary can be tough (e.g. on Al Martin's transgressions). They're getting closer to a good balance on being critical.

Team essays are not the garden variety review of offseason moves that are to be found in most preview magazines; rather, they often go into teams' philosophies of building, scouting, development and so on. I find this interesting in thinking about long-term health of franchises and looking forward to the new year.

Some of the material can be pretty high level. Past player stats are all translated to a baseline according to league difficulty, park effects and other factors. This can be a little unsettling or annoying at times when you want to know how someone did at a raw level, but there isn't room for everything. Predictions are given as expected numbers.

Such presentation probably isn't for everyone, so I'd suggest anyone looking to buy this book for the first time go to their website, http://www.baseballprospectus.com. Check out some of the essays, transaction analyses and such. Be sure to look at the historical EQA cards page, because this also gives an overview of the way they do their translations and present their stats. This will give you the best idea of whether this book is for you.

But don't let the stat stuff scare you away. The detailed player comments and team essays alone make this worth the money for me.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar, as usual, February 21, 2001

By 

John R. Mayne - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Prospectus: 2001 Edition (Paperback)

BP remains the standard for baseball annuals, with zillions of player comments both informative and entertaining, and team comments which are generally excellent.

They know more about more players than anyone else.

Minor quibble: Every year the back cover exhalts BP's predictive prowess and gives examples, yet for some reason the 2001 edition fails to speak of, for instance, the success of the Minnesota Twins and Jeff Kubenka. But that's just marketing, I suppose -- it is a great book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Analytical Book on Baseball, February 15, 2001

By 

Andrew Ritchie (Evanston, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baseball Prospectus: 2001 Edition (Paperback)

There is no better book on the market for the analytical baseball fan or fantasy leaguer. Some people will be put off by the indepth statistical analysis but this book isn't for statheads only.

The Baseball Prospectus covers every player you need to know, period, from superstars like McGwire to 25th men like Jay Canizaro. It also covers important minor leaguers all the way down to rookie ball. It gives objective translations of every player's statistics over the last three years and projections of every hitter's real life 2001 stat line. This is a must have for any analytical baseball fan or anyone looking to win in fantasy baseball.