Guzman's OBP

by TBird41 on Apr 12, 2008 4:03 PM EDT Comment 5 comments

Living out here in DC, I attended the Nats game last night, which allowed me to see an old, aggressive, friend, Mr. Christian "Doesn't Walk" Guzman. And lest you think I'm joking, Guzman's OBP is actually lower than his batting average. I don't know how he does it, but his batting average was .294 this morning, and his OBP was .288.

I mean, I wasn't expecting Guzman to have a great OBP or anything, but one lower than his batting average? How is that even possible? I figured this would the place to ask--isn't OBP just (hits+walks)/plate appearances?

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YOung

YOung's OBP was higher than his BA too, until the last game in Chicago. His hit in the first in the game was the first time he's pulled a ball to the outfield this year.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 12, 2008 6:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh

Oh, to actually answer your question, it's actually

(hits+walks+HBP+reached on error)/PA

But plate appearances is AB+BB+HBP+reached on error+Sacrifices

So if you have no walks but have a couple sac flys or bunts, your OBP can be lower than your BA.

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 12, 2008 6:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Minor correction

A reach on error is not added into the calculations - it's already included in at-bats (it counts as a hitless AB), and I just confirmed with Wikipedia that they're not included in OBP either. Like a fielder's choice, the batter doesn't get any positive statistical credit for reaching base.

Interestingly enough (which I didn't know before), obstruction and catcher's interference are also not counted toward times on base, and neither they nor sacrifice hits are included in plate appearances - according to the Wikipedia article, sacrifice hits are considered to be a product of manager's strategy, so the hitter is not punished for failing to reach base because of them.

Random research thought: Does anyone know whether there's been any study into whether some batters are more likely to draw fielding errors? Errors are rare enough that I'm virtually certain there'd be virtually no useful data due to the sample size, but you never know (then again, I don't know whether the data is kept for batters reaching on errors). I seem to recall something similar being done for pitchers' unearned run totals a few years ago, after Curt Schilling had some crazy streak where he didn't give up an unearned run for a long period of time, but it appeared to be more of a chance thing - pitchers who give up fewer earned runs also give up fewer unearned runs, because they're simply better pitchers and can get out of jams easier, and I think there was a fairly typical ratio of earned to unearned runs that most pitchers were in line with.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 14, 2008 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ex-Twin shortstops

That's way better in both categories than Jason Bartlett

Q: Generally, who should have a larger role in evaluating college and minor league players: scouts or stat guys?

A: Ninety-five percent scouts, five percent stats. Stats can tell you who is good, but they’re almost 100 percent useless when it comes to who will improve. -- Bill James.

by Firpo Marberry on Apr 12, 2008 9:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs