IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

[SPTO]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Oh yay stat geek conversation!

Man some team better make a blockbuster trade so this kinda talk can get swept under the rug.

Anywho

batters: OBP (I actually think that AVG should be replaced with OBP on tv but thankfully a lot of the broadcasts put up the OBP stat nowadays)

Starting Pitchers: ERA

Relievers: K/BB ratio or WHIP whichever you want is fine with me.

[Cletus]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

to me it depends on where you're hitting in the lineup. If you're a leadoff hitter OBP should be the most important, but if you're fourth and hit .250 with 40 homeruns then your OBP doesn't matter much. It also depends on what lineup you use, if you go with the standard lineup where 4th is the power hitter then numbers matter in a different way than if you balance your lineup as first hitter speed, 2nd hitter contact, 3rd hitter average through the lineup. I hope that made sense, I tried my best to describe it.

As far as pitchers go, to me the most important stats are opponents batting average and walks, because ERA is so dependent on innings. If a starter only goes 6 innings and gives up 2 runs in the 4th then his ERA is going to be higher than a guy who goes 8 innings giving up 2 runs in the 4th.

[Blzer]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Here's how I sense how to draw up an NL lineup:



1. High OBP, patient at the plate, best speed in lineup.
2. Ability to make contact out of the zone, and control where to hit the ball.
3. Capable of driving runners in when the time calls for it. Preferrably a deep fly ball or an extra-base hit of some sort.
4. Power hitter in the lineup. Best IsoP number on the team.
5. A secondary #3 hitter. Someone that can draw the lines and gaps very well.
6. A secondary leadoff hitter; speed not being the main issue here.
7. Worst starting hitter in the lineup (aside from the pitcher). No big needs here.
8. An opportune hitter that is good at staying out of the double play. Does what he can to try and get the pitcher up in the inning. Preferrably a THIRD leadoff hitter.
9. Pitcher




At times, I would say batting the pitcher 8th (think of LaRussa times in the 90s)... but nobody really does that, so whatever.

[Graphik]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Thanks yall, I learned so much reading your opinions.

[ehh]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

what is the most important stat in baseball?

Wins.


Seriously though, batting average and ERA.

[Brandon13]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

OPS and ERA.

[Head Coach]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

On base percentage for batters and ERA for pitchers

[X*Cell]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Hitters: ABP (in my sig) when it hits fame

Pitchers: WHIP

[CWood2]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Starting Pitchers: ERA

Relievers: K/BB ratio or WHIP whichever you want is fine with me.

Surprised it took this long to bring up K/BB ratio, I think that's a great breakdown above. I'd rather see a starter's ERA independent of defense though, but to me, that's only going to gain support as agreed upon fielding statistics become accepted...which could take a while, although Prospectus and books like "The Fielding Bible" are really making great progress. The more these folks can successfully capture a quantitative method to look at fielding, the more accurate you can single out the pitcher's true performance.

And OBP is also my key stat for hitters along with OPS.

[Blzer]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Hitters: ABP (in my sig) when it hits fame

Okay, so I'm interested as to what this stat means. My 12-year old sister had an All Star softball team this summer that I was an assistant coach for, and I tracked stats (and just so you understand how great they were, we legitimately are the THIRD best 12U C-team in the state of California).

So, I just entered in your formula, and I got a few decimals mostly around the 0.90 area, with two rather major outliers of .47 and 1.19. Exactly what is this? Does it combine Slugging Percentage with Secondary Average and On-Base Percentage or something to that effect?


Thanks.

[dalnet22]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

Batters: OBP

Pitchers: WHIP

Pretty simple.

[1hotballa]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

So, if one were to reach on an error or hit into a fielder's choice every time they came up to the plate, and had an 1.000 OBP, they must be very valuable for the club, right? How about a guy that, while drawing a few walks and getting a few hits, he sacrifices his at-bat to move a runner over, which would later score. Because his OBP (and SLG) lowers drastically, he must be less valuable to the ballclub, right?
.

There is sooooo much wrong with your WHOLE post, I am just going to comment on the most stupid paragraph of it.

#1, reaching on a error does not give you OBP points. Please learn what the stat is before you make idiotic claims.

#2 Bunting 3-4 runners over the course of the season is probably going to drop your OBP 1-2 points, yeah, that makes him alot least valuable.


When you go to the plate, the goal is NOT TO GET OUT. OBP tells you how often sombody does NOT MAKE A OUT. What does BA tell you? How often sombody gets a hit. If there is a guy who is hitting .285 but has a OBP of .300, all that tells me is that guy makes a out 70% of the time. Then you have a guy like Giambi who hits .250 but has a OBP over .400, making outs 60% of the time. Just becasue a guy hits for a higher average doesnt mean jack. Dont you want guys on base to score runs?

[Blzer]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

OBP tells you how often sombody does NOT MAKE A OUT.

I just want this to be clarified, because I guess I made an honest mistake and did not know that reaching on an error (and I assume reaching on a fielder's choice) does not raise your on-base percentage. But, I guess that I'll ask... why not? Like you are saying now, OBP says how often somebody does not make an out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you reach base on an error, you didn't make an out, correct?

Now what about drop-third strikes where you reach base? Does that raise or lower it?



And uh... I can't say that there's too much that's just way out in left field with the rest of my post. A lot of it, I'd say, is rather in line with the context of what we're discussing (in terms of importance of a stat, or the telling of a player's ability based on individual stats).

[1hotballa]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

I just want this to be clarified, because I guess I made an honest mistake and did not know that reaching on an error (and I assume reaching on a fielder's choice) does not raise your on-base percentage. But, I guess that I'll ask... why not? Like you are saying now, OBP says how often somebody does not make an out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you reach base on an error, you didn't make an out, correct?

If you reach base on a error, you technicaly didnt make a out, but you did nothing to earn reaching on base.

Now what about drop-third strikes where you reach base? Does that raise or lower it?

lower

[sportsdude]

Re: IYO, what is the most important stat in baseball?

For batters and pitchers. You see batting aaverages being tossed around as well as ERA numbers, what do you feel is the most important stat if you were to analize a player?

OBP for hitters and WHIP for pitchers, no question.