Baseball statistics refers to a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the game of baseball.
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a true percentage.
On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are represented. An OPS of .800 or higher in Major League Baseball puts the player in the upper echelon of hitters. Typically, the league leader in OPS will score near, and sometimes above, the 1.000 mark.
Mark David McGwire, nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2001 for the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He won two World Series championships, one with Oakland as a player in 1989 and one with St. Louis as a coach in 2011. One of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, McGwire hit 583 home runs during his career, which ranked 5th-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement and currently ranks 11th. He holds the major-league career record for at bats per home run ratio (10.6), and is the former record holder for both home runs in a single season and home runs hit by a rookie. McGwire was one of several central figures in baseball's steroids scandal.
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where AB is the number of at-bats for a given player, and 1B, 2B, 3B, and HR are the number of singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, respectively:
In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched.
Larry Kenneth Robert Walker is a Canadian former professional baseball right fielder. During his 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals. In 1997, he became the only player in major league history to register both a .700 slugging percentage (SLG) and 30 stolen bases in the same season, on his way to winning the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Award (MVP). The first player in more than 60 years to record a batting average of .360 in three consecutive seasons from 1997 to 1999, Walker also won three NL batting championships. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2009, and was named the 13th-greatest sporting figure from Canada by Sports Illustrated in 1999. In 2020, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to drive runners home or to advance runners along the bases for others to drive home, but the techniques and strategies they use to do so vary. Hitting uses a motion that is virtually unique to baseball and its fellow bat-and-ball sports, one that is rarely used in other sports. Hitting is unique because it involves rotating in the horizontal plane of movement, unlike most sports movements which occur in the vertical plane.
Todd Lynn Helton is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played his entire 17-year career for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). A five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and three-time Gold Glove Award winner, Helton holds the Rockies' club records for hits (2,519), home runs (369), doubles (592), walks (1,335), runs scored (1,401), runs batted in, games played (2,247), and total bases (4,292), among others.
Albert Jojuan Belle, known until 1990 as Joey Belle, is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder who played from 1989 to 2000, most notably for the Cleveland Indians. Known for his taciturn personality and intimidating stature, Belle was one of the leading sluggers of his time, and in 1995 became the only player to ever hit 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a season, despite the season being only 144 games. He was also the first player to break the $10 million per year compensation contract in Major League Baseball.
Charles Ernest Keller was an American professional baseball player. He played as a left fielder in Major League Baseball from 1939 through 1952 for the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers (1950–1951). A native of Middletown, Maryland, he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. His ability to hit massive fly balls and home runs earned him the nickname "King Kong".
Kenneth Roy Williams was an American professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1915 to 1929. Williams began his major league career with the Cincinnati Reds before spending the majority of his playing days with the St. Louis Browns, and ended his career playing for the Boston Red Sox. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. In 1922, Williams became the first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season.
Gross production average (GPA) is a baseball statistic created in 2003 by Aaron Gleeman, as a refinement of on-base plus slugging (OPS). GPA attempts to solve two frequently cited problems with OPS. First, OPS gives equal weight to its two components, on-base percentage (OBP) and slugging percentage (SLG). In fact, OBP contributes significantly more to scoring runs than SLG does. Sabermetricians have calculated that OBP is about 80% more valuable than SLG. A second problem with OPS is that it generates numbers on a scale unfamiliar to most baseball fans. For all the problems with a traditional stat like batting average (AVG), baseball fans immediately know that a player batting .365 is significantly better than average, while a player batting .167 is significantly below average. But many fans do not immediately know how good a player with a 1.013 OPS is.
The Colorado Rockies' 1997 season was the fifth for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Denver, Colorado, their fifth in the National League (NL), and third at Coors Field. The team competed in the National League West, finishing in third place with a record of 83–79. Right fielder Larry Walker won the NL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), becoming the first Rockies player and Canadian-born player to do so in MLB.
Patrick Joseph Mullin was an American Major League Baseball outfielder for the Detroit Tigers from 1940 to 1941 and 1946 to 1953. Born in Trotter, near Connellsville in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Mullin was signed by the Tigers before the 1937 season as a 19-year-old amateur free agent. A left-handed hitter who threw right-handed, Mullin was listed at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and 190 pounds (86 kg).
The Houston Astros' 1994 season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Houston Astros attempting to win the inaugural season of the National League Central; they finished in second place. First baseman Jeff Bagwell was a unanimous selection for the National League Most Valuable Player Award. Despite nearly the last two months of the being cancelled due to the 1994–95 strike, Bagwell set a then-club record for home runs with 39 and a club record for batting average (.368) and slugging percentage (.750).
Dae-ho Lee is a South Korean professional baseball player who played as a first baseman. During his career, he played for the Lotte Giants of the KBO League, Orix Buffaloes and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Nolan James Arenado is an American professional baseball third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arenado is widely recognized as one of the best defensive third basemen of all time. He is the only infielder to win the Rawlings Gold Glove Award in each of his first ten MLB seasons. He made his MLB debut with the Colorado Rockies in 2013 and was traded to the Cardinals before the 2021 season.
Kyle Daniel Tucker is an American professional baseball right fielder for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Astros selected Tucker with the fifth pick in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut in 2018.
