OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Top 5 stats you can calculate in your head

jollyschwa · 12-29-2015, 10:31 AM

I'm bored at work and contemplating my love/hate relationship with sabremetrics. As much as I love WAR, ERA+ and all of their cousins (and I do), my favorite stats are still the ones that I can actually sense or at least easily calculate in my head.

My love for baseball is all about the aesthetics. Watching a ball leave the park, the strike 'em out throw 'em out, web gems, two outs in the bottom of the ninth and down by one with runners on second and third... never in my life have I witnessed these things and wondered how it would effect a guys WAR. To me WAR is like a shiny new car sitting in a lot. Looks nice, but what's under the hood?

Anyway, it got me wondering - what are the best "non-advanced" stats to evaluate talent? "Non-advanced" meaning there needs to be little to no calculation

Here's mine for pitchers and batters.

Pitchers
WHIP
Innings Pitched
K/9
HR/9
K/BB

Least favorite - Wins, possibly the worst stat in sports

Batters
HR
OPS
Runs
Total Bases
RBI - Overrated, I know, but I still love it the you'd love your child even though you know he isn't that bright or talented... at anything

Honorable Mention - SB - Definitely not an indicator of overall talent but I consider it an underrated stat. If you steal a lot of bases, it means you were on base a lot to begin with (and yeah, there are obvious exceptions to that). Plus, Rickey Henderson is my favorite non-Cub

Least favorite - This is tough because I actually think all hitter stats are pretty useful. But if I had to pick one it'd be the Sacrifice Fly. To me it really just means the guy either failed to hit it out of the park or just couldn't.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks.

12-29-2015, 10:31 AM	#1
jollyschwa Minors (Single A) Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 64	Top 5 stats you can calculate in your head I'm bored at work and contemplating my love/hate relationship with sabremetrics. As much as I love WAR, ERA+ and all of their cousins (and I do), my favorite stats are still the ones that I can actually sense or at least easily calculate in my head. My love for baseball is all about the aesthetics. Watching a ball leave the park, the strike 'em out throw 'em out, web gems, two outs in the bottom of the ninth and down by one with runners on second and third... never in my life have I witnessed these things and wondered how it would effect a guys WAR. To me WAR is like a shiny new car sitting in a lot. Looks nice, but what's under the hood? Anyway, it got me wondering - what are the best "non-advanced" stats to evaluate talent? "Non-advanced" meaning there needs to be little to no calculation Here's mine for pitchers and batters. Pitchers WHIP Innings Pitched K/9 HR/9 K/BB Least favorite - Wins, possibly the worst stat in sports Batters HR OPS Runs Total Bases RBI - Overrated, I know, but I still love it the you'd love your child even though you know he isn't that bright or talented... at anything Honorable Mention - SB - Definitely not an indicator of overall talent but I consider it an underrated stat. If you steal a lot of bases, it means you were on base a lot to begin with (and yeah, there are obvious exceptions to that). Plus, Rickey Henderson is my favorite non-Cub Least favorite - This is tough because I actually think all hitter stats are pretty useful. But if I had to pick one it'd be the Sacrifice Fly. To me it really just means the guy either failed to hit it out of the park or just couldn't. I'm curious what everyone else thinks.