Finding Momentum in Division One Baseball, Jason Ding, UG '25 (2770524)

There is thorough research proving the hot-hand notion, or the tendency to believe that a successful streak is likely to lead to further success, as a fallacy in sports. This research disproves the hot-hand fallacy in D1 baseball and finds that batters perform significantly better if their teammates string together consecutive hits or walks before his at-bat. This project also finds a negative correlation in performance when a batter appears after his previous teammates strikeout. In all three cases, there is a linear relationship between the batter's performance and the number of previous consecutive hits/walks/strikeouts before him. Most notably, this research finds that the top 25% of pitchers do not show any trend of letting the batters facing them generate momentum, a feat that distinctly sets them apart from the rest of the pitchers.

Jason Ding, UG '25: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonding15/