Sabermetrics uses statistical analysis that goes deeper into the analysis of baseball records. Helps make decisions about the performance of players. The practice began in 1977 when Bill James began self-publishing works on a new discipline he called sabermetrics.
Sabermetrics was most recently popularized by the movie Moneyball, which showed how Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, used sabermetrics in 2002.
I personally rely on the game to judge individual players, but here’s a quick look at some of the sabermetric formulas:
Adjusted ERA (ERA+): Adjusted earned run average for stadium and league average.
Batting Average On Balls In Play (BABIP): The frequency with which a batter reaches a base after putting the ball in play. For pitchers it is usually a measure of luck. Therefore, pitchers with high or low BABIPs are a good bet to see how their performances measure up to the average.
Base Runs (BsR): Estimates the number of runs a team “should” have scored given their component’s offensive stats.
Component ERA (CERA): An estimate of a shooter’s ERA based on the individual components of their stat line, another stat that tries to take luck out of the equation.
Defensive Efficiency (Def Eff): The rate at which a team’s defense converts balls put into play into outs. This can be approximated with (1 – BABIP).
Defense Independent ERA (DERA): This is a measure of what a pitcher’s earned run average would have been, were it not for the effects of defense and luck. It uses batters facing, home runs allowed, walks allowed, intentional walks allowed, strikeouts and hit batters in a complex mathematical formula.
Defense Independent Component ERA (DICE): Formula that measures pitcher performance using home runs allowed, walks, hits per pitch, strikeouts and innings pitched.
Defense Independent Pitching Statistics (DIPS): A series of statistics that measure a pitcher’s effectiveness based solely on plays that do not involve fielders: home runs allowed, strikeouts, hit batters, walks, and more recently, percentage of elevated, ground ball percentage. and percentage of line conduction.
Equivalent Average (EqA): A statistic used to measure hitters independent of stadium and league effects. EqA takes into account hits, total bases, walks, hits per pitch, stolen bases, sacrifice hits, sacrifice flies, at-bats, and caught stealing. It is then normalized for the difficulty of the league.
Extrapolated runs (XR): Similar to created runs, except that it assigns a run value to each event, instead of a multiplicative formula.
Fielding runs above replacement: The difference between an average player and a replacement player, determined by the number of plays that position must make.
Inherited Runs (IR): The number of runners inherited by a relief pitcher who scored while the reliever was in the game.
Isolated Power (ISO): A measure of a hitter’s raw power: extra bases per at-bat.
Last Inning Pressure Situation (LIPS): Any at-bat in the seventh inning or later, with the batter’s team trailing by three runs or fewer (or four runs if the bases were loaded).
On Base Plus Slugging (OPS): Measures a hitter’s ability to get on base and hit for power. It’s simply the on base percentage plus the slugging percentage.
Peripheral ERA (PERA): A shooting stat that calculates expected effectiveness, taking into account park-adjusted hits, walks, strikeouts, and home runs allowed.
Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Testing Algorithm (PECOTA): Named for baseball player Bill Pecota. It is a very complex formula that forecasts a player’s performance in all of the major categories used in common fantasy baseball games and in producing forecasts in advanced sabermetric categories.
Pythagorean Expectation: A formula that resembles the Pythagorean mathematical theorem and is used to estimate how many games a baseball team should have won, based on how many runs a team scored and allowed. Comparing the two percentages can determine how lucky a team was.
Quality Start (QS): A game in which a pitcher completes six innings, allowing no more than three runs.
Range Factor (RF) – Used to determine how much ground a player can cover. That’s nine times the putouts plus the assists divided by the innings played.
Runs Created – Measures how many runs a player creates. The formula for runs created is hits plus walks multiplied by total bases, divided by at-bats plus walks.
Total Player Rating (TPR): Measures the value of the players that allows comparing players for different positions, teams and eras.
Value Over Replacement Player (VORP): For hitters, it is the number of runs contributed beyond what a replacement-level player at the same position would contribute.
Win Shares – Using a set of complex math, it takes into account player stats in the context of their team and assigns them a number that is one-third of a team’s wins.
Win Above Replacement Player (WARP) – A stat that combines Win Share and VORP. Represents the number of wins this player contributed, above what a replacement-level batter, fielder, and/or pitcher would have done.
Bases on balls and hits per inning pitched (WHIP): The average number of bases on balls and hits allowed by the pitcher per inning.
Study these sabermetrics formulas and you just might be able to become the next Billy Beane.