Julia Thompson wrote:
> Gautam Mukunda wrote:
>
>
>>Most players and commentators and so on still think that batting average is
>>a meaningful statistic. But it's not, and we've known that for a long time.
>>
>
> Why not? Please explain. Thanks.
>
> Julia
I haven't read the book, but I can guess. Batting average
doesn't take into account walks (disregards them) or power
(# of bases per hit). OPS, on the other hand, combining On
Base Percentage (OBP)(hits+walks+hit by pitch+sacrifice
flies) and Slugging Average (SA) (total bases/at bats), is a
much more comprehensive way of judging performance.
So while Colorado's Todd Helton is leading the NL with a
batting average of .350, Barry Bonds, with an average of
.325 has an OBP of .514 and a SA of .860 for an OPS of 1.374
compared to Helton's 1.120. Bonds' numbers are phenomenal
BTW, only Babe Ruth ever put up comparable ones. But then,
he goes on vacation Monday.
--
Doug
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.zo.com/~brighto
