Analysis of Salary for Major League Baseball Players

Abstract

This thesis examines the salary of Major League Baseball (MLB) players and whether players are paid based on their on-the-field performance. Each salary was examined on both the yearly production and the overall career production of the player. Several different production statistics were collected for the 2010-2012 MLB seasons. A random sample of players was selected from each season and separate models were created for position players and pitchers. Significant production statistics that were helpful in predicting salary were selected for each different model. These models were deemed to be good models having a predictive r-squared value of at least 0.70 for each of the different models. After the regression models were found, the models were tested for accuracy by predicting the salaries of a random sample of players from the 2013 MLB season.