WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - As the World Series approaches, Major League Baseball teams might want to implement a new base-running strategy developed by members of the Williams College statistics and mathematics department.
In a senior colloquium advised by Professor of Mathematics Frank Morgan, Davide Carozza 2009, of Washington D.C., investigated the paths around the diamond. Could you cut off seconds?
"When you hit that final long ball in the World Series of Baseball and know you need the home run, what is your optimal path around the bases?" they asked.
Carozza compared the recommended path around the bases -- the so-called "banana path," which follows the baseline halfway to first base before veering to the right to set up a better angle to continue to second -- to a more continuous path.
Carozza found that running a circular path around the bases could account for a base-running time 20 percent faster, a time increase of more than four seconds.
Professor of Mathematics Stewart Johnson later computed an optimal path calculated to take 16.7 seconds, compared to the recommended path's 22.2 second time.
The research team checked the official rules of baseball to assure the legality of their proposed path, and determined that it could indeed be used.
The research, titled "Baserunner's Optimal Path" will appear in "The Mathematical Intelligencer" in October.
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