Inside the Majors

A look at news and trends in the Big Leagues

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What Baseball Stat Is The Most Valuable?

Baseball as a sport is obsessed with statistics. Looking at records over the years the most important ones have been reflective of the stats we have adored. You will find the magic numbers in baseball are wins, home runs, hits, strike outs, era and batting average.

In the past ten years we have seen a change in the stats that we once that were the most important. In 2010 we had Felix Hernandez win the CY Young with only 13 wins. That would have never happened even five years ago.
So what are the most important stats now?

For batters one stat that has shown to be effective is one base slugging (OPS). OPS takes the hitters on base percentage divide by slugging percentage. Adding OPS to average and you get a good value of a hitter.

Pitchers stats have changed dramatically with wins meaning less and less every year. One stat to pay attention to is WHIP which is walks plus hits divided my total innings pitched. With a lower WHIP you will get less base runners giving your team a bigger chance to succeed. ERA plus is also helpful as it will take in consideration ballparks to get a better idea how that pitcher is doing.

As always stats will be important in baseball.