P · 2018
James Shields
- Age
- 37
- B/T
- R/R
- Height
- 6' 3"
- Weight
- 210 lb
- Number
- #33
- Born
- December 20, 1981 in Newhall, CA, USA
- MLB debut
- May 31, 2006
- dbWAR
- -2.9 7 season(s)
- PA
- 7
- AVG
- .167
- OBP
- .167
- SLG
- .167
- wRC+
- -19 100 = avg
James Shields is a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. In 2018 he hit 0 home runs and knocked in 0 RBIs, notching 1 hit across 7 plate appearances in 3 games. His batting average was .167, 32.8% lower than the league average of .248. He reached base at a .167 clip and slugged .167, for an OPS of .333, 54.2% lower than the league mark of .728. He averaged 80.2 mph off the bat and made contact on 50.0% of his swings. Adjusted for his ballpark and league, his -19 wRC+ puts his offence 119% below average. That comes to -0.1 dbWAR — -1.0 runs with the bat, -0.0 on the bases, +0.0 for the position he plays, against replacement level. It includes no fielding: defensive runs are proprietary and are not estimated here, so the figure credits playing a demanding position but not playing it well.
League context
Percentile among qualified batters, 2018.
How the WAR is built
Runs above replacement, 2018. These four terms sum to -0.7 runs, divided by runs-per-win to give WAR.
WAR by season
Batting
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .000 | .333 | 0.0% | 42.9% | .146 | -1.0 | -19 | -0.1 | |
| 2016 | 12 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | .190 | .190 | .190 | .000 | .444 | 0.0% | 52.2% | .167 | -2.8 | -4 | -0.2 | |
| 2015 | 34 | 74 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 28 | .132 | .145 | .162 | .029 | .225 | 1.4% | 37.8% | .137 | -10.5 | -27 | -0.9 |
Pitching
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 34 | 33 | 204.2 | 7 | 16 | 0 | 190 | 103 | 154 | 78 | 4.53 | 5.09 | 1.31 | 6.8 | 3.4 | 109 | 123 | -0.1 | |
| 2017 | 21 | 21 | 117.0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 116 | 68 | 103 | 53 | 5.23 | 5.83 | 1.44 | 7.9 | 4.1 | 120 | 134 | -0.7 | |
| 2016 | 33 | 33 | 181.2 | 6 | 19 | 0 | 208 | 118 | 135 | 82 | 5.85 | 6.01 | 1.60 | 6.7 | 4.1 | 140 | 143 | -1.9 | |
| 2015 | 33 | 33 | 202.1 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 189 | 88 | 216 | 81 | 3.91 | 4.45 | 1.33 | 9.6 | 3.6 | 99 | 112 | 1.0 |
Platoon splits
How he hits left- and right-handed pitching.
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHP | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 50.0% |
| vs RHP | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .220 | 40.0% |
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHB | 447 | 393 | 84 | 15 | 48 | 84 | .214 | .302 | .384 | .304 | 18.8% |
| vs RHB | 424 | 382 | 106 | 19 | 30 | 70 | .277 | .336 | .487 | .355 | 16.5% |
Spray chart
Where every ball he put in play landed, 2018.
Loading 4 batted balls…
Contact quality
How hard and at what angle he hits it, over 3 tracked batted balls in 2018. Percentiles are against qualified batters.
- Barrel rate
- 0.0% 0 barrels
- Exit velocity
- 80.2 mph average
- Max exit velo
- 93.8 mph, hardest hit
- Hard hit
- 0.0% 95 mph or better
- Sweet spot
- 66.7% 8–32° launch
- Launch angle
- 4.0° average
A barrel is a batted ball whose exit velocity and launch angle have historically produced at least a .500 average and 1.500 slugging — 98 mph within 26–30°, widening to 8–50° by 116 mph. Reconstructed from Statcast's published anchor points, which reproduces them exactly; the interior is within a degree. Sweet spot (8–32°) is an exact definition.
Hot and cold zones
Batting average by pitch location, 2018.
Situational hitting
How James Shields hits by base state, outs, score and late-game pressure — each read against his own season line.
| Situation | PA | AB | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All situations | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | .167 | .167 | .167 | .146 |
| Bases empty · thin | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .293 |
| Runner on first · thin | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Runners on · thin | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| RISP · thin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
Runners on includes runners in scoring position, which is the convention every reference uses. Rows under 25 plate appearances are marked thin — at that size a rate moves several dozen points on one hit. Counted from play-by-play, 2018.
Pitch sequencing
What James Shields throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.
Select a count to see exactly what James Shields throws in it.
Pitch arsenal
What he throws, how hard, and how often it misses in 2018.
| Four-Seam Fastball | 845 | 89.5 | 2,271 | 44.3% | 12.1% | |
| Cutter | 765 | 86.4 | 2,342 | 42.5% | 21.1% | |
| Knuckle Curve | 629 | 78.2 | 2,478 | 44.7% | 34.0% | |
| Changeup | 581 | 83.4 | 1,664 | 37.3% | 29.2% | |
| Sinker | 366 | 89.0 | 2,178 | 36.6% | 21.3% | |
| Eephus | 114 | 68.5 | 2,477 | 44.7% | 36.6% |
Head to head
Put James Shields beside up to three others.
wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.