It is the time of year where everyone is predicting what the upcoming MLB season will give us. Some love to speculate on anecdotal evidence, some use statistical evidence, some rely on computer-modeled projections. There are many forms of computer models out there, there are 4 or 5 on Fangraphs alone.
My favorite projection system to use is PECOTA from Baseball Prospectus. PECOTA stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm. It is one of the original computer-modeled projections out there, created by Nate Silver, back in 2003.
For most of PECOTA’s history, the analysis was based on 50th percentile outcomes; i.