Editing Baseball (section)

=== Sabermetrics ===
[[Sabermetrics]] is the field of baseball statistical study and the development of new statistics and analytical tools. Such new statistics are also called sabermetrics. The term was coined around 1980 by one of the field's leading proponents, [[Bill James]], and derives from the [[Society for American Baseball Research]] (SABR).<ref>Gray, Scott, ''The Mind of Bill James: How a Complete Outsider Changed Baseball'' (Doubleday, 2006), p. ix.</ref>

The growing popularity of sabermetrics since the early 1980s has brought more attention to two batting statistics that sabermetricians argue are much better gauges of a batter's skill than batting average:<ref>Guzzo (2007), pp. 20–21, 67; Schwarz (2004), p. 233; Lewis (2003), p. 127.</ref>
* [[On-base percentage]] (OBP) measures a batter's ability to get on base. It is calculated by taking the sum of the batter's successes in getting on base (hits plus walks plus hit by pitches) and dividing that by the batter's total plate appearances (at bats plus walks plus hit by pitches plus sacrifice flies), except for sacrifice bunts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/10_the_official_scorer.pdf|title=Official Rules/10.00—The Official Scorer (Rule 10.21f)|access-date=February 22, 2009|publisher=Major League Baseball|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224215917/http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/10_the_official_scorer.pdf|archive-date=February 24, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Slugging percentage]] (SLG) measures a batter's ability to hit for power. It is calculated by taking the batter's [[total bases]] (one per each single, two per double, three per triple, and four per home run) and dividing that by the batter's at bats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/10_the_official_scorer.pdf|title=Official Rules/10.00—The Official Scorer (Rule 10.21c)|access-date=February 22, 2009|publisher=Major League Baseball|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224215917/http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/10_the_official_scorer.pdf|archive-date=February 24, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some of the new statistics devised by sabermetricians have gained wide use:
* [[On-base plus slugging]] (OPS) measures a batter's overall ability. It is calculated by adding the batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.<ref>Guzzo (2007), pp. 22, 67, 140; Schwarz (2004), p. 233.</ref>
* [[Walks plus hits per inning pitched]] (WHIP) measures a pitcher's ability at preventing hitters from reaching base. It is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits a pitcher surrendered, then dividing by the number of innings pitched.<ref>Guzzo (2007), pp. 140–141.</ref>
*[[Wins Above Replacement]] (WAR) measures number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player were substituted with a [[replacement-level player]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is WAR? {{!}} Sabermetrics Library|url=https://library.fangraphs.com/misc/war/|access-date=October 12, 2021}}</ref>