In April 2026, I presented Quantifying the Tunnel: How Plate Distance Difference Affects Whiff Probability at the Tri-State Sport Management Annual Summit Poster Presentation. The project grew from a baseball question: how does the change in plate position between pitches relate to swings and misses?
Measuring the change between pitches
I developed Plate Distance Differential, or PDD, as a way to quantify plate-position change between pitches. That created a measurable variable for studying the question with pitch-tracking data.
The research used 2025 MLB Statcast data. I applied a generalized linear mixed model to examine the relationship between PDD and whiff probability, with guidance from Dr. Deokkyung Ock at Quinnipiac University.
Explaining the approach
A statistical result needs the question, measurement choices, and model around it to be useful. For this project, explaining PDD is part of explaining what the analysis can tell us about a pitch sequence.
This note introduces the project rather than reproducing the full research poster. Detailed estimates and figures should be read with the original model and research materials.
Presenting the work
I presented the research in Hackensack, New Jersey, at the 2026 summit. The project brought together metric development, statistical modeling, and the task of explaining a baseball analysis to an audience.