Talk:Range factor

the 'range factor leaders by position' tables are actually only for the national league. i edited the headline to indicate this. i'll try to get around to either adding tables for the american league as well or just editing the current ones to include both leagues, but it may be awhile...sooo, if someone else would like to do it, i wouldn't complain. Felixjones 02:15, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * also, what's the qualifiers for inclusion in this table - games played, total chances, innings, what? last year, freddy sanchez
 * played 99 games at third base in the national league, had a way better range factor than rolen, but rolen is listed as having the
 * best range factor. rolen had 43 more games and nearly 400 more innings than sanchez, but not even 100 more chances. since the
 * formula uses innings, i'd go with that, but what's the minimum needed to qualify? setting it at 1000 means only 18 guys would be
 * eligible, barely representing half the teams in baseball! i like the tables, but they need work.... Felixjones :02:59, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

250 innings?
Why is the cutoff for pitchers 250 innings? That means like three pitchers in the last ten years would qualify. No wonder all the leaders are from the early 20th century. -- Jprg1966  (talk)  19:18, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Where can I get analysis of this data?
Strange that the infield are all around the turn of the 20th century, out fielders are all mid-century and catchers are all over the map. Can someone tell me where to read about why this is the case? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.247.32.66 (talk) 16:51, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Putouts on strikeouts
"Also, catchers who have a lot of strikeout pitchers on their team will have a high range factor, because the catcher gets the putout on a strikeout if the batter does not reach base." I do not think that the latter part of this sentence is correct. From my understanding, the batter does not have to reach base for someone other than the catcher to be credited with the putout but just has to become a runner (unless the catcher applies the tag). If the batter is thrown out at first or tagged out by someone other than the catcher on the way to first after a dropped third strike, the fielder (other than the catcher) is credited with the putout although the batter has not reached base. --FeinerMax (talk) 10:57, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

This Article Needs a Lot of Work
The article is factual in the sense that certain baseball terms are defined, the statistics are from Baseball Reference and the math equation to calculate RF is correct. But there it stops. The minimum innings for each position's top range factor players seems arbitrary and there is no reference to who set them. The references given are not proper footnotes. The intent and importance of range factor itself is not explained and the explanation of why catchers and first basemen RF is skewed isn't adequate.

The metric "Range Factor" is intended to rate players in their relative ability to see a batted ball off the bat, react to it, get to it, field it and turn it into an out - how much territory they cover to field a batted ball. Range Factor is supposed to show how some players don't field balls that should be fielded for outs while other players have the ability to field balls that usually go for hits. That's not explained.

The vast majority of put-outs recorded by catchers and first basemen are merely the result of playing a high level of "catch". Rather than fielding batted balls (the metric for the other seven defensive players), they are receiving balls thrown by their teammates that are recorded as put-outs. Range Factor for those two positions has no connection to Range Factor for the other positions. It doesn't measure their fielding range at all. This needs to be explained in the article.

The article makes no reference to the effect of the team's pitching staff's overall tendencies (power vs finesse) on Range Factor. The staff's overall tendencies will determine, in large part, the different fielders' RF based on team strike-out, fly-ball and ground-ball rates. The effect of pitching needs to be explained.

The typical baseball fan who reads this article as it is currently written isn't likely to come away with a clear idea of what range factor is and why it is deemed to be important by some. SanaroG (talk) 01:56, 16 April 2020 (UTC)== This Article Needs Serious Work ==