Doubles (2B): The number of hits that resulted in the batter hitting second base. match-up. Other hitters may have a history of success against a given pitcher (or vice versa), and the manager may use this information to create a favorable
Statistics have been kept for professional baseball since the creation of the National League and American League, now part of Major League Baseball. The practice of keeping records of player achievements was started in the 19th century by Henry Chadwick. Powered by Minute Media © 2020 All Rights Reserved. For each statistic, two values are given: Learn how and when to remove this template message, National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, Interleague play § Interleague statistics, Major League Baseball Historical Statistics, The Official Site of Major League baseball – Baseball Basics: Abbreviations, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baseball_statistics&oldid=984138874, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, SBA or ATT – Stolen base attempts: total number of times the player has attempted to steal a base (SB+CS), xFIP: This variant substitutes a pitcher's own home run percentage with the league average, GIDPO - Double play opportunities: number of groundout induced double play opportunities, GO/AO or G/F – Ground Out to Air Out ratio, aka, IP/GS – Average number of innings pitched per game started. This makes comparisons between players on field performance relatively easy, and therefore gives statistics about baseball more importance than in most other sports. OPS adds the hitter's on-base percentage (number of times reached base by any means divided by total plate appearances) to their slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats). Throughout modern baseball, a few core statistics have been traditionally referenced – batting average, RBI, and home runs. Unlike most other sports, baseball exists outside of time there is no clock to control game play or judge a player's performance. 6” seems like information overload, but many stats like this are crucial to the game. Games Pitched (GP): The cumulative total number of games in which a player has pitched. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on All MLB and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. [1] Based on his experience with the sport of cricket, Chadwick devised the predecessors to modern-day statistics including batting average, runs scored, and runs allowed.
Base on Balls (BB): The number of times a batter has been awarded first base as a result of four balls being pitched outside the strike zone. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports. Most of these terms also apply to softball. Let’s start with hitting. We’ll take some of the most common terms that you will want to know to understand and enjoy the game and break them down with a basic definition that allows you to understand and/or explain the term to friends and family who may be confused. SIERA – Skill-Interactive Earned Run Average: another advanced stat that measures pitching. Comprehensive, historical baseball statistics were difficult for the average fan to access until 1951, when researcher Hy Turkin published The Complete Encyclopedia of Baseball. Jun 12, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; A major league baseball rest in the grass prior to the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park. We'll never pass along your email address to spammers, scammers, or the like. To this day, a player who leads the league in all of these three statistics earns the "Triple Crown". "Opponent on-base plus slugging" (OOPS) is becoming a popular tool to evaluate a pitcher's actual performance. For example, a certain hitter's ability to hit left-handed pitchers might incline a manager to increase their opportunities to face left-handed pitchers. Unlike most other sports, baseball exists outside of time — there is no clock to control game play or judge a player's performance. It is difficult to determine quantitatively what is considered to be a "good" value in a certain statistical category, and qualitative assessments may lead to arguments. Win/Loss Percentage (PCT): The total number of wins divided by the sum of wins and losses. Hits Allowed (H): The number of hits given up while pitching. Baseball Prospectus was the first to really address the statistic, and their version is called WARP (wins above replacement player). Stats are everything in baseball and rooted in the deep traditions of the game. For pitchers, wins, ERA, and strikeouts are the most often-cited statistics, and a pitcher leading his league in these statistics may also be referred to as a "triple crown" winner. Also known as walks. At Bats (AB): The official number of times the player as taken the plate as a batter, not counting walks or sacrifices. Baseball Glossary. A starting pitcher will be credited with a win if he pitches at least 5 complete innings, his team is in the lead when he leaves the game and his team continues to maintain the lead for the rest of the game. This listing will not be a comprehensive list of all MLB statistics, as that would be a 300-400 page book to read just to explain all the statistical terms you see in major league baseball and fantasy baseball, let alone when you start adding in more modern sabermetric terms. Runs Batted In (RBI): The number of times a batter has made it possible for his teammates to score.
Commonly used statistics with their abbreviations are explained here. Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and statistics. Ever watched an MLB game and wondered, “What does that stat mean? Complete source for baseball history including complete major league player, team, and league stats, awards, records, leaders, rookies and scores. Strikeouts (SO): The number of times a pitcher retires a batter after three strikes. When analyzing a pitcher's statistics, some useful categories include K/9IP (strikeouts per nine innings), K/BB (strikeouts per walk), HR/9 (home runs per nine innings), WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched), and OOPS (opponent on-base plus slugging).
The explanations below are for quick reference and do not fully or completely define the statistic; for the strict definition, see the linked article for each statistic. Managers, catchers and pitchers use the statistics of batters of opposing teams to develop pitching strategies and set defensive positioning on the field.
So for nearly every play imaginable, a stat is sure to exist. Baseball is DiMaggio rounding second. A manager’s decision to replace a pitcher in the 7th inning, for example, means a lot more if you know the relief pitcher’s W+S and BS percentages. Runs (R): The number of times a batter has crossed home plate. This is often referred to as "playing the percentages". Events like, “Pinch runner who has hit more than two home runs during a game wearing the No. Games Played (G): The number of games the player has played in. Baseball statistics play an important role in evaluating the progress of a player or team.. Read on to learn the meanings of important baseball abbreviations and how they affect a team’s performance. Traditionally, statistics such as batting average (the number of hits divided by the number of at bats) and earned run average (the average number of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings) have dominated attention in the statistical world of baseball. The publication of Total Baseball led to the discovery of several "phantom ballplayers", such as Lou Proctor, who did not belong in official record books and were removed.[2]. Knowing the meanings of basic baseball statistics abbreviations can make an already exciting game even more fascinating to watch. Nevertheless, a dizzying array of statistics record nearly every aspect of the game in amazing detail, and allow fans (and team managers!) Some argue that the OPS formula is flawed and that more weight should be shifted towards OBP (on-base percentage). Baseball statistics play an important role in evaluating the progress of a player or team. Earned Run Average (ERA): Earned Run Average The number of Earned Runs (scored without an error) that pitcher allows every nine innings. We will also divide this up into three sections – hitting/offense, pitching, and fielding/defense. Here are a few common player statistics, as found on the virtual baseball cards in The Players. CI – Catcher's Interference (e.g., catcher makes contact with bat), PWA - Player Win Average: performance of players is shown by how much they increase or decrease their team's chances of winning a specific game, PGP - Player Game Percentage: defined as, "the sum of changes in the probability of winning the game for each play in which the player has participated", Top5: the top five players bettered this value in all of the reported seasons, Best: this is the best of all of the players for all of the reported seasons, This page was last edited on 18 October 2020, at 12:25. Triples (3B): The number of hits that resulted in the batter hitting third base. Using full-season statistics available at the Official Site of Major League Baseball[5] for the 2004 through 2015 seasons, the following tables show top ranges in various statistics, in alphabetical order. In 1969, Macmillan Publishing printed its first Baseball Encyclopedia, using a computer to compile statistics for the first time. Seattle Mariners See Their Playoff Hopes Take a Big Hit, Detroit Tigers: Analyzing Mark Fidrych’s Usage in the Summer of “The Bird”, St. Louis Cardinals Trade Debate: Righty Daniel Ponce de Leon, Position-by-Position Breakdown of Pittsburgh Steelers' Top Combine Targets, Mariners connections to the 2020 World Series rosters, Milwaukee Brewers 2020 Season Report Card: Alex Claudio, KC Royals: A couple years for Maikel Franco may be worth it, Top 25 Super Bowl Performances of All Time, Each NHL Team's Most Likely Future Hall of Famer, 30 Greatest Teams in Premier League History, 28 most memorable buzzer beaters in March Madness history. Base on Balls (BB): The number of times a pitcher has thrown four balls, allowing the batter to be awarded first base. Does not include hits resulting in a double play or runs scored because of an error. Innings Pitched (IP): The cumulative total number of innings pitched by a player. Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. Some sabermetric statistics have entered the mainstream baseball world that measure a batter's overall performance including on-base plus slugging, commonly referred to as OPS. Many statistics are also available from outside Major League Baseball, from leagues such as the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players and the Negro Leagues, although the consistency of whether these records were kept, of the standards with respect to which they were calculated, and of their accuracy has varied. Statistics that are easy and popular to talk about are things such as: Batting average (AVG) On-base percentage (OBP) Slugging percentage (SLG) These will help towards raising your batting average number, but these are not always the reason for a good QAB score. Baseball isn't statistics.
Home Runs (HR): The number of hits that resulted in a home run. Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". Sabermetrics and comparative statistics attempt to provide an improved measure of a player's performance and contributions to his team from year to year, frequently against a statistical performance average.