Stat Spotlight: wOBA

I see this one a lot, and I'll try to make it as easy as possible to comprehend. Weighted On-Base Average or wOBA is an enhancement of OPS, a stat that combines slugging and on-base percentage. It's comprehensive, in that is takes into account the complete hitting experience much in the same way OPS does. The problem with OPS, as I understand it, is that it weighs SLG and OBP equally, when in reality they are not equal (getting on-base is more important). Thus Tom Tango invented wOBA which is scaled in the same way OBP is scaled (so a good wOBA looks like a good OBP). League average for wOBA is around .335.

Here's a practical example of wOBA and it's usefulness from a 2008 Fangraphs article, featuring superstar Hanley Ramirez and not superstar Ryan Ludwick:

let’s look at Ryan Ludwick versus Hanley Ramirez. Ludwick had a .966 OPS versus a .940 OPS for Ramirez – not a huge difference, but one most people would consider significant. If you put a lot of stock in OPS, you’d probably argue that Ludwick had a better offensive season.

However, Ramirez actually had a slightly higher wOBA, .403 to .401. This is due to the fact that Ramirez posted a .400/.540 line compared to Ludwick’s .375/.591 mark. Ramirez’s 25 point advantage in OBP was slightly more valuable than Ludwick’s 51 point advantage in SLG, and wOBA reflects this.

So from now on I'll try and use wOBA more often. All encompassing stats=good.

More Delightful Random Baseball For Your Reading Pleasure...

Jason Hammel Signed a 2-year deal with the Rockies.

Almost perfect but not even league average pitcher Armando Galarraga is heading to the Diamondbacks.

Yesterday we mocked the foolish trade the Angels made in acquiring Vernon Wells. Here's an article by Dave Cameron at Fangraphs about what he would have to do earn that contract of his.

Not much else, just one of those days.