Things to Do

Hi Max,

First check out this recent story about modeling soccer penalty kicks as zero-sum games:
http://www.slate.com/id/2144182/
Then check out the paper itself here:
http://www.econ.brown.edu/fac/ipalacios/pdf/professionals.pdf

I've only given these a cursory look, but one problem I would have is that there seems to be an assumption that humans can choose to act randomly. But from what I understand people are not good at acting randomly. For example if you ask a person to randomly generate numbers, they will be much more predictable in the sequences they generate than a computer algorithm for generating random numbers. "Can humans choose a random course of action?" is a huge question, and one that will come to bear on pitch selection.

Use PsychInfo and Google Scholar to see what kind of work you can find that speaks to this issue.

To get to PsychInfo:
http://libraries.ucsd.edu -> Databases A-Z -> P -> PsychInfo -> Advanced Search

To get to Google Scholar:
http://scholar.google.com

Use these same sources to look for any prior research into the determinants of a pitcher's next pitch. Here are some factors that may play into such a decision:
-the number of outs
-the number/positions of baserunners
-the count (balls and strikes)
-pitch count (how many pitches has the pitcher already thrown)
-the score (leading/trailing/tied?)
Has anyone addressed these questions? Do pitchers throw more fastballs when their team is ahead? More strikes?

See what you find in the existing literature. If there are a lot of articles, create a list with titles, authors and publication dates. If there are only a few, start reading them over and follow the papers they reference to find more relevant articles.

THE BIG PICTURE
When you're reading these articles, keep in mind the presentation you will be making about this project in the future. Your goal is to be able to speak intelligently about this topic and transfer to us (the audience) new knowledge.