Heschel School SABR Club: A primer on sabermetrics

From SABR members Max Mannis and Max Melamed at Sports Illustrated For Kids on May 6, 2015:

In our April issue, we have a feature on stats that makes the case for better ways to evaluate baseball players. The alphabet soup of advanced metrics include OPS+ (Adjusted On-Base Percentage Plus Slugging Percentage), FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), and UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) — and they’re likely to give you a headache. But don’t worry! Some kids in the Heschel SABR Club in New York have your primer on some key sabermetrics you need to know to be a better fan.

1. WAR (Win Above Replacement) is by far the coolest name on this list. But it’s also a key advanced metric. It counts how many wins a player adds to his team’s total compared to an average replacement. While not a perfect stat by any means, WAR is becoming more and more popular. This year, both Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw, the AL and NL MVPs, led their league in WAR.

2. wOBA (Weighted On-Base Average), while falling just short of the top of our rankings, is an equally useful tool for measuring a hitter’s worth. It does this by assigning a value to every way a hitter reaches base using his own skill. So, it counts walks and hit by pitches but not errors.

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Sabermetrics reference guide organized by the SABR Club at Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York. Definitions and rankings compiled by Max Mannis, Max Melamed, and their teacher Bosi Kinar.

Read the full article here: http://www.sikids.com/blogs/2015/05/06/a-primer-on-sabermetrics



Originally published: May 6, 2015. Last Updated: May 6, 2015.