What are the pillars of modern baseball statistics?

[Greg Pappas]

As I age (58) I discover more and more sites with more and more stats, like BaseballReference and Fangraphs and just today, Statcast.  It can be a bit overwhelming at times.  Some sites use the same stats, like WAR, but have different results.  Using hitting as an example, these are the stats I pay attention to (most often at BaseballReference): BA/HR/RBI/BABIP/OBP/SLG/OPS/OPS+/SB/BB's/K's/WAR.  That's 12 and seems like a lot.  LOL

Anyway, which stats are your 'go to' stats? I'm hoping you all may share those, in helping to figure out the ones I/we should be paying to. Naturally I'm asking for both hitting and pitching.

 

[Yossarian]

If the idea is to score runs and prevent the other team from scoring runs the three most important stats would be:

Runs

Runs Batted In

Earned Run Average

With baseball being a team game, all of these stats are dependent on other players on the team,  so, I don't know.

[Aristotelian]

OBP, OPS, and HR for hitting; ERA, K/9, and BB/9 for pitching. WAR for both. 

[interloper]

Lately I've been drawn to the simplicity of OPS+ as an offensive stat. 

Gunnar: 127
Adley: 124
O'Hearn: 145

Frazier: 99
Mateo: 70
Urias: 98

It all checks out with what you already know to be true. I like that Frazier and Urias arrive at league-average OPS+ in different ways. And also how it compares everything to the rest of the league, so even though you look at Ramon's slash-line and it might bum you out a little, OPS+ tells you he's still a solidly average ML hitter compared to his peers.

Edited July 24, 2023 by interloper

[Greg Pappas]

3 minutes ago, interloper said:

Lately I've been drawn to the simplicity of OPS+ as an offensive stat. 

Gunnar: 127
Adley: 124
O'Hearn: 145

Frazier: 99
Mateo: 70
Urias: 98

It all checks out with what you already know to be true. I like that Frazier and Urias arrive at league-average OPS+ in different ways. And also how it compares it to the league, so even though you look at Ramon's slash-line and it might bum you out a little, OPS+ tells you he's exactly an average ML hitter. 

That's a favorite of mine as well. 

[EddeeEddee]

6 minutes ago, interloper said:

Lately I've been drawn to the simplicity of OPS+ as an offensive stat. 

Gunnar: 127
Adley: 124
O'Hearn: 145

Frazier: 99
Mateo: 70
Urias: 98

It all checks out with what you already know to be true. I like that Frazier and Urias arrive at league-average OPS+ in different ways. And also how it compares everything to the rest of the league, so even though you look at Ramon's slash-line and it might bum you out a little, OPS+ tells you he's still a solidly average ML hitter compared to his peers.

Agreed, and also ERA + for pitchers.

[interloper]

Just now, EddeeEddee said:

Agreed, and also ERA + for pitchers.

I haven't used that one much, but I dig it. 

Kremer: 87
Bradish: 137

Bautista: 457 hahahaha

[Can_of_corn]

wOBA.

[NCRaven]

Statcast is great for finding information about under the radar stats that give you batted ball information in comparison to the rest of the league, such as average exit velocity, hard hit rates, strike out and walk rates, whiff rates, sprint speed, etc..  That can be found at the baseballsavant.mlb.com website.  They have similar information for pitching stats.

Edited July 24, 2023 by NCRaven

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

wOBA.

Is this found on baseball reference anywhere or only a fangraphs thing? 

[forphase1]

16 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

OBP, OPS, and HR for hitting; ERA, K/9, and BB/9 for pitching. WAR for both. 

This is kinda where I am, though I also add in WHIP for pitching.  My kids have started watching more and more baseball with me, and are starting to ask what the various numbers mean and what's good versus bad.  

[EddeeEddee]

5 minutes ago, interloper said:

I haven't used that one much, but I dig it. 

Kremer: 87
Bradish: 137

Bautista: 457 hahahaha

That's a badass ERA+. 

The modern pitching stat everyone stalks about these days is FIP, which measures a pitcher's effectiveness at preventing HRs, walks but also at creating strikeouts.  It's presented to resemble a kind of predictive ERA.  But I'm a bit suspicious of FIP because not all good pitchers are strikeout pitchers and some very good pitchers give up a fair share of home runs, like Tyler Wells for example.  I like WAR but don't pretend to get caught up in the math of it.  Don't really have the patience for the wonkier stats.

[DrungoHazewood]

Really just pitcher wins and batting average. Oh, and fielding percentage.

[btdart20]

Most (all?) stats mean more in context.  I should probably switch to the OPS+ and ERA+ versions...

Hitters:  OPS, OBP HH%, EV, Babip, K%.  A bit quirky, but I find it interesting to look at expected HR for ballparks too.

Pitchers:  Comparing the ERA/xERA/xFIP/FIP for a gap (kind of like comparing the BABIP to BA for hitters) as a quick guess at luck (toss in LOB% to go a bit further).  WHIP, K%-BB%, and GB% are old faithful stats.  Chase% and CSW%.  Stuff+ is the shiny new toy but you have to dig for it on Fangraphs.  FB Velo.  

And who doesn't like seeing a ton of red on the Statcast snapshot!?!

Here's another site to add to FG, BRef, and Statcast:  Kyle Bradish Stats and Fantasy Analysis | Pitcher List

[Malike]

30 minutes ago, interloper said:

I haven't used that one much, but I dig it. 

Kremer: 87
Bradish: 137

Bautista: 457 hahahaha

I think Britton had an ERA+ of 800 or so in 2016. 457 is nothing to scoff at.