Christopher Weber

Mets fan, dinger enthusiast, gamer, and all around nerd.

Director of Product @Pitcherlist

RIP In The Deep

Twitch: Shwebsi

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

Hey y'all, I need to chat about our new @PitcherListPLV account.

First of all, we have no idea how this happened. We expected to do a small launch and ramp it up throughout the spring as we ensured everything was working correctly, and in no world did we anticipate climbing from 800 followers to 100k+ in 24 hours. We've reached out to colleagues trying to grasp it, and I don't think anyone in their right mind actually believes I'd purchase bots to pump the numbers (if I actually wanted to, we'd do it for our YouTube channel!).

While inspecting some of the cards during the day, we saw many complaining about the model's grades, and we 100% agree. Something was wrong. How on Earth could Tolle have such a low stuff grade? Triple F for Bergert's outing?!

Let me explain what happened and a little more about what Pitcher List Stats is and our PLV model.

We began developing PLV (Pitch Level Value) in 2019, after four years of work, and launched it in 2023. I personally worked with some brilliant people to get it to the finish line, including Colin Charles, Jeffrey Nicholas, Zach Dobroff, Cameron Grove of Pitching Bot, and now the head of our analytics department Kyle Bland. You can read the award-winning article from 2023 here:  https://t.co/Xs07ve5uO5

As outlined there, this model is not something whipped up by AI over the last month. It takes into account dozens of factors, from release height, arm angle, movement, velocity, spin rates, extension, and all the good stuff. We've made adjustments here and there over the years and will continue to improve it indefinitely. It's a foundational metric that allows us to assess player skills on a different level, including crafting our Process+ metric for hitters.

"But then why was it so obviously wrong yesterday?" Well, that has to do with a few factors, and Kyle does a fantastic job outlining what went wrong in the tweet below. In short, some overfitting, some small sample problems, and some spring training being spring training.

The next tweet you'll see from @PitcherlistPLV will showcase the fixed model vs. some of the cards you saw yesterday. We're also expediting an article on the Pitcher List site from Kyle outlining all the factors that go into determining the grades you see on these cards, making it the clear reference point for everyone to use these cards to the best of their ability. Remember, we didn't expect for this account to get so much attention so quickly!

Once we have our article live on our website, we will add a link inside these cards so everyone can understand the massive undertaking of making them.

We spent weeks iterating on this design and determining what should go where (no AI involved), and we're incredibly thankful to have so many provide feedback on what metrics they want to see, what needs more clarity, and special requests. Please continue to do so, respectfully, of course.

We've already made some changes that you'll see later today, such as renaming "Start" and "Models" to "Results" and "Skills", as they better represent what those grades are for. We love the idea of a "Start" grade to quickly grasp if a pitcher was good or poor, but we didn't make clear this grade was our version of a Game Score, and not a grade of the pitcher's stuff or PLV. We still like the idea of an all-encompassing "Skills & Results" number (and one for a SP vs. RP) and we'll keep toying with the idea.

And yes, those "Start/Results" grades are low because we intended these cards to be featured mainly during the regular season, when pitchers are properly stretched out and aren't leaving after a few frames. Another artifact of our unexpected attention during the start of spring training.

Lastly, while these cards are currently only for pitchers, we've already begun the process of creating cards for hitters - it's a little trickier given the small sample of a single game.

I hope this post has cleared the air. We're still blown away at the support for our new account and we're excited to share our love for the game with all of you.

Aces gonna ace,
-Nick

[Kyle Bland @blandalytics]

Hey everyone! Let's talk about our new pitcher cards at @PitcherListPLV. First and foremost, as the Pitcher List Director of Analytics, I want to apologize. The Stuff model isn't accurate to what we want it to be, nor to what our intuition is.

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

So excited for this to drop, I've been using it for my own drafts which is the highest praise I can give an app.

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

Dominate Your Draft With the New Live Draft Assistant!

Our Live Draft Assistant is fully updated and ready for 2026, and we’ve completely overhauled it for your drafts!

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

Everything we do at Pitcher List couldn’t be done without the support of YOU!

With the new season right around the corner, we are opening up our lifetime subscriptions again for a limited time.

For a one-time payment, you receive lifetime access to everything we have already built, as well as the amazing tools we have in the works.

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@OhChev 😅 fair enough

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

hey that's me

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

DEBUT DAY!

Jonah Tong and Payton Tolle both make their MLB debuts this evening!

Join @shwebsi this evening at 7:10 ET on Playback as he watches Jonah Tong's start for the Mets, and we'll see if we can get him to check in on Tolle as well...

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@Josh___Sperry

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

Are you a React developer? We’re looking for a baseball fan to help us with an innovative and exciting project.

Paid, ~10 hours a week

Send a cover letter to [email protected] if you’re interested.

We hope you’re the right fit!

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@OhChev the spotlight Morejon is my guy

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@MikeDro_ Man I freaked out when I got a blue DH the other day and it was fucking Harold Baines

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

The Mets are up early on the Dodgers, and @shwebsi is hosting today as the Mets look to take the series in LA! https://t.co/faWtEGlk2Z

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@DC__Rising @MLBTheShow No. The odds of pulling a 90+ are 1:100

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@2_seamfastball It's annoying that at the same time the Ks are spiking for Alonso he's also hitting into some bad luck. So it goes

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@Lizzie_Baseball Anything from 6-10

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@TheScann Maybe with the money from another Chase pack they can dedicate the resources to fix this

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

Come watch me talk Mets and ask any fantasy questions you've got! If you have https://t.co/HDBYKGa3Da you can catch the @Mets game live with me and the @PitcherList community! (assuming you are not blacked out, because we are not more powerful than blackouts, sadly)

[Nick Pollack @PitcherList]

In a little over an hour, @shwebsi will be hosting on Playback watching the Mets and Diamondbacks face off in the rubber match of their three-game series

[Prospects Live @ProspectsLive]

2025 Bowman goes live next week and we are going to break a Jumbo Hobby box with 3 autos!

In celebration we are running a FREE card giveaway with 30 winners selected!

Here is how you can be eligible:
1. Like and share this post
2. Be (or become) a paid subscriber of Prospects Live

Entries close on release day (5/7/2025) at midnight Eastern Time.

Check out our 2025 Bowman Preview on Prospects Live to prepare yourself for the release!

[Christopher Weber @shwebsi]

@jonbecker_ 🫵