What happened when an opinion on a bullpen session and sabermetrics met on Twitter

So I had an interesting couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. It had nothing to do with the snow that turned Baltimore into utter chaos for quite a while.

My "fun" came via Twitter.

My colleague, Roch Kubatko, wrote an entry where he mentioned this about young pitcher Hunter Harvey:

"A group of veterans, including (Darren) O'Day, Chris Tillman, Zach Britton, and Tommy Hunter, stayed around to watch the young pitchers' bullpen sessions. Tillman and Britton shook Harvey's hand when he was done."

That led me to Tweet this:

Pretty cool per @masnroch that guys like Tillman/Britton watched a kid like Hunter Harvey throw today. Can't put a sabermetric stat on that.

-- Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) February 21, 2015

I think it was great that some veteran pitchers watched the kid throw and were around to lend support or help any way they could. It was a few minutes out of a long season, but to me that is helpful to that kid. I file it away under the larger category of the Orioles having great team chemistry and this is a part being a good team.

Since you can't put a stat on that - advanced, old-school or otherwise - I phrased it the way I did.

Can of worms, meet Steve's Twitter account. Within minutes, I was told I had taken an unnecessary shot at the sabermetric community and some out there got real stirred up.

One fan wrote: "Them watching his bullpen in February DOES NOT make him a better pitcher."

Another wrote: "Stop. Just stop."

But here is my Tweet that sent some heads spinning and caused me to get 80-100 responses in less than five minutes.

Don't some of the saber guys see that by totally discounting chemistry, confidence and teammwork you play to ur stereotype?

-- Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) February 21, 2015

Even though I wrote that some play to a stereotype, it seemed all were upset. At least it looked that way on my timeline. The stereotype that some do have about some in the sabermetric world is that they do rely only on numbers and feel you can run a team off a spreadsheet. That some do feel chemistry and confidence are overrrated, and to me, discount some of these factors and they probably do because you cannot put a stat on it. You can't wrap your hands around it.

I'm still waiting for a 60-minute show on the top 10 teams with clubhouse chemistry right now.

But it is an element of winning for this Orioles team. A big element. How much of one? No one can say. I think that creates uncertainly for some that leads them to discount it and go back to the numbers we can see and quantify.

If you are around the Orioles, you hear so many players talk about this and then you often hear new players mention how great and welcoming this clubhouse is. At some point you have to believe it has an impact. But again, we can't put a stat on it.

What happens when veteran players help a young player, even if it is in a very small way, can have an impact on that player. But no, I can't answer if that will make one of his pitches better or make him pitch deeper in games this year. Or get to the majors faster. Or win a Cy Young Award. But some of us look beyond numbers sometimes.

Some of us don't see baseball only in stats, although the sport uses more numbers than any. I love some of the stats and numbers and use them often in this blog and anyone that is a regular here knows that.

But I also enjoy learning about and writing stories like this one from last Aug. 5. Tillman talked about the pitchers helping each other during the season. They watched each other during bullpen sessions - like with Harvey on Saturday - and during games.

"We've been a pretty tight-knit group and we know what makes each other click," Tillman said in August. "When a guy is out there pitching, all the rest are sitting there watching. If something is going wrong, you come back in the dugout and they are on you right away. 'This is what I see.' It's been working and it's going to get better."

In that same article, Bud Norris said, "When you come into work every day and these guys are putting out information to help everybody and the guy next to them, it speaks volumes about the team and the chemistry."

With a few words that I wrote, I got some harsh words from many circles and some seemed to feel they knew everything about me, my writing and my thoughts on the game. I guess that is Twitter and the social media world we live in.

I am open to any criticism you have - I even read those on Saturday that came with venom and bad language, and pretty much told me I was a complete idiot.

One fan accused me of "McCarthyism" and one national writer said, "You're not exactly raising the level of debate by poking the bear, particularly in a forum where nuance is usually lost." Later he wrote, "You have 13K followers, you don't expect to have dialogue with readers or explain yourself when you say something without nuance?"

Well, if a bear doesn't want to be poked, I think he shouldn't leave the woods. I also explained that I respond to just about every question I am asked both here on my blog and on Twitter. Maybe some were missing the nuance of me?

Sabermetrics and all baseball stats have an important place in today's game. If someone took what I wrote Saturday to feel I discount or don't see that, well let me tell them now that I do. Old-school scouts who may have little idea what FIP is also have a place. I think the best teams - and the Orioles are one - should use all the data and information that is available to make the best decisions. That includes poring over the spreadsheets and video, and listening to actual scouts that still rely on the good old-fashioned eye test.

Some organizations rely more on sabermetrics, some less. That is their choice. Some writers rely more and some less. That is their choice.

Some see chemistry and teamwork as crucial elements to winning. But to this point, no one has been able to put a stat on that. In any community.

Nice pic!: And to leave all this on a feel-good note. Here is my favorite picture from spring training so far, also via Twitter.

@BudNorris25 thanks for the love. Your littlest, biggest fan pic.twitter.com/wNFSF0Mmim

-- Mark Baldwin (@OriolesMagic76) February 22, 2015