Baseball Prospectus has introduced DRC+ Joe Maddon Jersey , a statistic that says the we have always championed the use of statistics to better understand the game of baseball. Advanced metrics, in particular, have taught us to think about the game differently. They help us discuss the game more intelligently, and back up our arguments and assertions with facts. While they aren’t perfect, they tend to enrich our conversations about this game that we all love.On Monday, the fine folks at Baseball Prospectus unveiled Deserved Runs Created Plus, or DRC+, a statistic designed to measure a player’s offensive output relative to league average, and adjusted to correct for a boatload of factors. Like our old friends OPS+ and wRC+, it is scaled so that 100 is average, and any points above or below that indicate the percentage of how much better (or worse) a player is relative to average.We’ll get into the nitty-gritty in a bit, but here’s what you need to know: the Detroit Tigers are still bad.Nicholas Castellanos was the only Detroit hitter to rank among the top 100 players in all of MLB in DRC+ in 2018, with a 116 DRC+, nowhere near as good as his 130 wRC+. The next-best Tiger was Christin Stewart, who only played in Detroit for a month at the end of the season. In fact, the next Tigers hitter to spend the full season with the team was Victor Martinez, way down at 262nd in baseball with a 95 DRC+.Where are Jeimer Candelario and Niko Goodrum, you may ask? They are further down the list; both finished with a 91 DRC+ Willson Contreras Jersey , numbers much worse than their respective wRC+ figures. Other Tigers that finished down the list include:Jose Iglesias: 89 DRC+John Hicks: 86 DRC+Mikie Mahtook: 85 DRC+Ronny Rodriguez: 76 DRC+James McCann: 74 DRC+Dixon Machado: 73 DRC+(You can see the entire list of sadness here)How is DRC+ calculated?We don’t know yet. While it seems like this particular stat hates the Tigers, the reality is that DRC+ doesn’t seem to be too closely correlated with wRC+ and OPS+, which will only differ by a point or two for a given player. The reason for that? DRC+ is calculated differently, and has different weights for various outcomes in a given plate appearance.We’re still not sure exactly why there are such big discrepancies, such as Castellanos’ 14-point difference in DRC+ and wRC+, but creator Jonathan Judge indicated that “extreme performances” in certain areas (especially strikeout and walk rates) are weighted differently. Also, as the above quote says, DRC+ is scaled for quality of competition and weighed by single-year park factors.What does this all mean?We’re not sure yet. Baseball Prospectus is proudly claiming that DRC+ is the most accurate measure of offensive performance out there, and it probably is. It may or may not overtake OPS+ and wRC+ as the most widely-cited offensive statistic, and it will take some time before the general public gets a better grasp of its strengths and, probably more importantly, its flaws. Whether we use it here or not depends largely on personal preference — many of our writers lean toward FanGraphs’ stats, though we try to mix it up whenever possible — but will, as always, be provided with the appropriate context.In the meantime, we’ll stare at that above tweet for a while and go back to wishing the Tigers would actually sign someone. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Thanks to the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels, baseball got a new twist on the old Abbott and Costello gag of “Who’s on First?”For confused players and fans at Scottsdale Stadium on Friday, it was “Who’s on Second?”A day after Major League Baseball announced it would begin extra innings by putting a runner on second base in spring training games http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authentic-david-ross-jersey , the Giants and Angels jump-started the experiment — they did it to start the ninth with the score tied at 5.Giants manager Bruce Bochy knew what was going on. Only one problem: He hadn’t told his team.“For the rest of the spring, they’re taking a look at it, so we did it today,” Bochy said after the game. “Actually, I’ve got to tell them it starts today.”So as Giants reliever Trevor Gott entered in the top of the ninth and began warming up, third base umpire Alfonso Marquez signaled to the Angels bench to put a runner at second. The split-squad Angels sent Jhoan Urena to the bag.Gott was confused.“I turned around and asked the umpire, ‘Is he supposed to be here?'” Gott said. “He said, ‘Yeah,’ but he looked like he was kind of joking. I was like, ‘For real?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it starts today.'”In fact, MLB teams can mutually agree in exhibition play to begin the ninth inning of a tie game with a runner on second base by informing the plate umpire — MLB has asked each team to try it once. If the game is still tied after the ninth, the teams can agree to either end the game or play a 10th inning.The experiment is already part of the minor leagues. Designed to improve the pace of play, all levels of the minors began extra innings with a runner on second last year. It was done in the rookie level of the minors in 2017.With many fans asking each other what was happening, Gott struck out the Angels’ Bo Way to start the ninth.Gott retired Torii Hunter Jr. on a flyball, moving Urena to third, and struck out Ty Kelly to end the inning.The Giants put Alen Hanson on second in the ninth. The Angels’ Ryan Clark struck out Drew Ferguson, got Mike Gerber on a flyball Kyle Hendricks Jersey , walked Levi Michael and set down Pablo Sandoval on a flyout to finish the inning.That was all, the game ended in a 5-all tie.“I would’ve tried to bunt (Hanson) over for Gerber there,” Bochy said. “It just shows you how important execution is. We couldn’t move him over there. That was the difference.”Gott said he was in those situations quite a few times last year at Triple-A Syracuse.“It definitely makes it a lot tougher in terms of how you approach the batter at the plate, 100 percent,” Gott said. “What I saw last year was bunt pretty much every time. That’s what everyone did pretty much.”Some teams intentionally walked the first batter to set up a double play, Gott said.“For here, it’s OK,” Bochy said. “I wouldn’t want to see it during the season. It’s a little different. I’m not sure everybody knew what was going on.”Gott certainly didn’t. When did he find out?“When it happened,” Gott said. “When the umpire told me.”Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija had another suggestion: eliminate extra innings completely and consider changing to a points system where teams are awarded three points for a win and each team receives one point for a tie.“We’re playing 162 games and over that many games, you should be able to tell who the best team is,” Samardzija said. “That makes the ninth inning exciting all the time. Who wants to go out and play 15 innings?”Well, Gott for one.“I like extra innings,” Gott said. “I think it measures the depth of the team to some extent.”Bochy has been part of some thrilling extra-inning games as well, including Game 4 of the 2012 World Series against the Detroit Tigers that went 10 innings and a marathon Game 2 of the 2014 NL Division Series against the Washington Nationals that lasted 18 innings.“I think some of the greatest games have been extra inning games, epic games,” Bochy said. “We’ve been part of them. That’s an exciting part of baseball. I’m not into the tie deal. I’d want to play until we finish.”NOTES: Outfielder Austin Slater and ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte were optioned to Triple-A and infielder Zach Green and pitcher Derek Law reassigned. The Giants now have 41 players in camp plus one on the 60-day injured list (Johnny Cueto).