Analytics

The world of baseball revolves around decisions made analytically these days. The usage of advanced statistics is one of the most important parts of my journalism. Advanced statistics can be extremely telling of the direction a player is trending. This section will highlight some of my personal favorite statistics with examples of their usage in my writing.

wRC+

Weighted Runs Created Plus

This statistic is an attempt at an all-encompassing offensive value statistic that quantifies the runs created by a hitter compared to the average. The formula adjusts for environmental and situational aspects. An average hitter has a 100 wRC+ and every point higher or lower is that percentage difference. Look for wRC+ in this article.

wRC and wRC+ formulas courtesy of Brew Maths

FIP

Fielding Independent Pitching

While ERA (Earned Runs Average) is the most common pitching metric, FIP assesses the quality of a pitcher regardless of how the defense performs. It focuses on plays that don't involve defense like strikeouts, home runs, and walks to approximate a pitcher's ERA without the variance of fielding. Look for FIP in this article.

Correlation of ERA and FIP in 2019 courtesy of FanGraphs

wOBA

Weighted On-Base Average

One of the most prominent offensive metrics used to measure a hitter's value by weighting types of hits differently. It credits hitters differently with home runs being the highest value and singles being the lowest to measure not only if a player is getting on base but how impactful they are on the game. Look for wOBA in this article.

Current MLB wOBA leaders courtesy of Baseball Savant

WAR

Wins Above Replacement

This is the first often-used concept to quantify how many wins a given player is worth to the team. While it's more of an estimation than an exact number, WAR is used to determine the value of a player in comparison to others and factors in offense, defense, running, and external factors. It's one of the most trusted general stats. Look for WAR in this article.

WAR data for some of the best players ever courtesy of Quora.com