player_stat_data doesn't actually return stats. Better way?

[bennettcolecohen]

Hi - I'm trying to compile previous season stats by looking up player id using the player_stat_data, but the stats value on that lookup is always empty. I have data on a game by game basis but don't want to manually calculate that

Minimum Example: statsapi.player_stat_data('645277', group="hitting", type = 'season')

NOTE: type = 'career' does work but that isn't what is needed.

return this object. Note how 'stats' is just an empty list

{'id': 645277, 'first_name': 'Ozzie', 'last_name': 'Albies', 'active': True, 'current_team': 'Atlanta Braves', 'position': '2B', 'nickname': 'Bolly', 'last_played': None, 'mlb_debut': '2017-08-01', 'bat_side': 'Switch', 'pitch_hand': 'Right', 'stats': []}

[toddrob99]

It's returning the current season stats, which the API is defaulting to 2022. The statsapi.player_stat_data() method does not include a way to specify the season, but the API endpoint does.

In order to retrieve the same data for a prior season, you will need to make the API call using statsapi.get() instead. If you like the way statsapi.player_stat_data() returns the data, you can duplicate that function and add the season to line 1115.

"hydrate": "stats(group=" + group + ",type=" + type + "),currentTeam", to "hydrate": "stats(group=" + group + ",type=" + type + ",season=2021),currentTeam",

The resulting API URL is https://statsapi.mlb.com/api/v1/people/645277?hydrate=stats(group=hitting,type=season,season=2021),currentTeam.

[toddrob99]

Oh, and if you just want to know how to get the raw data from the API and parse it out yourself, you can still refer to how statsapi.player_stat_data() is building the statsapi.get() call and include the season.

params = {
    "personId": personId,
    "hydrate": "stats(group=" + group + ",type=" + type + ",season=2021),currentTeam",
}
r = statsapi.get("person", params)