What do mlb stats mean

AO — Flyout: The total number of outs that occur as a result of a batter hitting a caught fly ball. Pitchers who induce lots of fly balls tend to pitch higher in the zone. This makes them vulnerable to power hitters who can easily knock a high ball over the wall. GF — Games Finished: Primarily a stat for closers, GF tallies the number of games in which a pitcher was the last pitcher to take the mound for their team.

GS — Games Started : GS tallies the total number of games in which a pitcher throws the first pitch for their team, regardless of how many at-bats or innings they remain in the game. GO — Groundout: The total number of outs that occur as a result of a batter hitting a ground ball to a fielder.

Pitchers who tally large amounts of groundouts likely tend to throw lower in the strike zone. HLD is helpful in identifying strong relief pitchers who typically enter the game earlier or do not serve as closers. IP — Innings Pitched: Pitchers are credited a third of an inning pitched for each out recorded while they are on the mound. It is very difficult to rank highly in terms of innings pitched without being a strong starter with the ability to pitch deep into a ballgame.

L — Loss: Pitchers receive a loss when they are attributed a run that gives the opposing team a lead from which their team is unable to recover. Note that a starter will not necessarily be credited a loss every time his team loses the game he starts, even if his team is trailing when he exits the game.

Only the pitcher who puts the winning run on-base will be credited a loss. NP — Number of Pitches: NP is a comprehensive pitch count that includes every single pitch thrown, regardless of outcome. QS — Quality Start : QS provides an objective measure of the number of games in which a starter puts in a respectable performance. Starters are credited a QS when they pitch at least six innings and allow three or fewer earned runs.

Note that pitchers skirting the line by allowing three runs over six innings are not putting in stellar performances. SV — Save: Relief pitchers are credited with a save when finishing the game for a winning team, under certain circumstances. To be credited a save, the relieving pitcher must keep his team ahead in one of the three following circumstances:.

SVO — Save Opportunity: Relief pitchers are credited with a save opportunity every time they record either a save or blown save. Pitchers with a high SVO tally are often put in high-pressure game situations, indicating their managers have a great deal of faith in their abilities to maintain a crucial lead late in the game. This stat records the percentage of time a pitcher is credited a save when given a save opportunity.

Strictly comparing saves does not account for the fact many? SHO — Shutout: Starters receive a shutout when they pitch an entire game and do not allow the other team to score. Shutouts are exceedingly rare, particularly in the modern era of baseball, where teams have become increasingly reliant on their bullpens. UER — Unearned Runs: Unearned runs are attributed to a pitcher when the other team scores as the result of a fielding error or passed ball.

WP — Wild Pitches: Wild pitches are tallied anytime a pitcher delivers a ball that the catcher is unable to control, resulting in the advancement of at least one baserunner. Note that wild pitches are only recorded when they result in the advancement of a runner. Wild pitches are closely related to passed balls PB , which have a similar result but are deemed to be the fault of the catcher. W — Wins: Pitchers are credited with a win when they are on the mound when their team takes the game-winning lead.

In order to qualify for a win, the pitcher must also pitch at least five innings. This stat, along with other pitching stats derived from wins and losses have fallen out of favor with baseball handicappers since pitching ability does not correlate directly with wins and losses.

That means his ERA of 1. FIP is scaled to look like ERA, but it's different in that it reflects just those outcomes that have nothing to do with fielding -- i. As such, it can better measure of raw pitching skill than ERA is. Game Score is a quick-and-dirty Bill James metric that measures a pitcher's dominance or lack thereof in a given start. A Game Score of 50 is average, 90 and above is a gem, and anything of 20 or worse is a likely a disaster start.

Here's how it's calculated In Kerry Wood's legendary strikeout performance against the Astros in , he authored a Game Score of -- one of the highest marks ever. ISO -- also sometimes referred to as "Isolated Slugging" -- is an indicator of a hitter's raw power.

It's simply batting average subtracted from slugging percentage. Basically, it's how many extra bases a hitter averages per at-bat. An ISO of less than. OPS is on-base percentage added to his slugging percentage. The resulting figure gives a nice snapshot of production on a rate basis i. For pitchers, you'll occasionally see "OPS allowed," but it's usually used for hitters.

It's good shorthand, though. Any OPS of 1. In , the league average OPS was. That means his park- and league-adjusted OPS was 99 percent better than the league standard. In , the average pitcher struck out This is the defensive statistic used in FanGraphs' version of Wins Above Replacement see below for players other than catchers. UZR divides the field up into defensive zones and also corrects for the speed of a batted ball.

It's denominated in runs and compares fielders to the MLB average at their respective positions. To repeat from above: There's no such thing as a perfect defensive metric, but the advanced ones are far, far better than fielding percentage, which doesn't account for a fielder's range.

Those proper valuations of singles, doubles, homers, walks, etc. Babe Ruth is the all-time leader with a patently absurd wOBA of. These abbreviations apply to softball as well. I hope this helps to clear up some confusion.

Barrel — A batted ball with the perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle, or the most high-value batted balls. A barrel has a minimum Expected Batting Average of. This is tracked for all Batted Ball Events — outs, hits and errors.

Four runs score on a grand slam. If the bases happen to be loaded at the time, the batter is also credited with a run batted in. A batter is also awarded an RBI for theirself for a home run. Definitely one of the most confusing stats! Because the visiting team will not get another turn at-bat, the game ends immediately, with the home team victorious.

A Game Score of 50 is average, 90 and above is a gem, and anything of 20 or worse is a likely a disaster start. Starters are not credited for a game finished when they pitch a complete game. Any inherited runners who score against a relief pitcher are not charged to his ERA. The use of the K to denote a strikeout dates back to a journalist who scored games in order to reference them for his articles and he used a K. Managers and batters study opposing pitchers to figure out how best to hit against them.

Managers often base their personnel decisions during the game on statistics, such as choosing who to put in the lineup, or which relief pitcher to bring in. Throughout much of modern baseball, several core statistics have been traditionally used. Batting average , RBIs , and home runs are the most commonly referenced batting statistics. To this day, a player who leads the league in these three statistics is referred to as the " Triple Crown " winner. For pitchers, wins , ERA , and strikeouts are the most often cited traditional statistics.

A pitcher that manages to lead the league in these statistics is also referred to as a "Triple Crown" winner. Some sabermetric statistics have entered the mainstream baseball world. Among statistics that measure a batter's overall performance, On-base plus slugging OPS is one of the easiest to calculate.

It adds the hitter's on base percentage number of times reached base—by any means—divided by total plate appearances to his or her slugging percentage total bases divided by at bats. OPS is also useful when determining a pitcher's level of success. However, since , more emphasis has been placed on Defense-Independent Pitching Statistics. These statistics, such as Defense-Independent ERA dERA , attempt to evaluate a pitcher according to those events governed solely by the pitcher's performance, regardless of the strength of the defensive players behind him or her.

Also important are all of the above statistics in certain in-game situations.