The development of a valuation model to determine the true market value of professional baseball players

Abstract

Purpose The main purpose of this current study is two-fold. Firstly, it attempts to develop a model to determine the true market value of Korean professional baseball players (hitters only) solely based on their athletic performances on the field. Secondly, it is to provide the evidential data for the market value of baseball players in Korea. Methods The statistical data and performance information were obtained from baseball almanac from KBO from 1997 to 2016. Seven hundred and ninety three players were included for data analysis. Principal component factor analysis was utilized to eliminate multicollinearity among 12 sabermetrics indices (OPS, GPA, SECA, TA, RC, RC/27, XR, ISO, PSN, sOBA, %OW, BABIP) and increase power of explanation of the proposed model with KMO(=0.77), p<0.001. Results The proposed model was successfully developed with YSalary = Years of Experience*921.5 + FA (free agent)*53528.9 + PHI(Power Hitter Index)*7313 + CHI(Contact Hitter Index)*5893.6. Furthermore, the proposed model explained 64.5% of variances of the market value for the Korean professional baseball players and proved to be statistically valid. Conclusions The newly developed model in this study was very helpful for us to identify the variables that affect the true market value of baseball players. It is expected that this model could make an important contribution in determining true market value of the baseball players in Korea.

A Study on the Effect of Korean Professional Baseball Players’ Defensive Contribution on Team Performance

“…이후 기존 8개 세이버메트릭스 지수에 추가로 5개 지수를 더하여 주성분회귀분석을 실시한 뒤 타자들에 대한 분류를 보다 구체화하였다[14]. 또한 선수 연봉산정을 위해 세이버메트릭스 지수와 연차 등을 주성분회귀분석을 실시하여 선수효율성을 측정한 바가 있고[15], FA자격이 없는 신인선수들이 높은 선수효율성을 보이고 있다는 결과도 있다[16]. 또한, 타격중심의 선수효율성 비교를 위해 출루효율성, 가치효율성, 최고경쟁선수 효율성 등을 산출하기도 하였는데, 총 535명의 선수를 최고경쟁선수 효율성을 중심으로 순위를 매겼을 때 타격순위와 유사한 부분이 많았다[17].…”