BASEBALL BY THE LETTER

The world is full of acronyms these days.  It's an initial problem (pun intended).  Baseball is no exception.

Most people, even many not into the game, know most of them:  H - hits, R - runs, E - errors.  Those are basic.  ERA - earned run average, OBP - on base percentage, and RISP - runners in scoring position are a little more advanced but have been around for a long time.

Computers and AI have brought new ones into common use that us old timers never heard of.  Here is one you should know:  WHIP.  This is a pitcher's record that gives you his walks plus hits per innings pitched.  It's a good way to evaluate a pitcher.  Some people think WHIP is better than the ERA which has been the standard.  Walks can be as good as a hit.  

A modern one for batters is OPS. Some people use it to replace average (AVE) or hits per at bat.  This adds together a hitter's on base percentage (OBP) plus his slugging percentage (SLG).  OBS adds up any time a hitter gets on base no matter how.  SLG uses the number of bases a hitters gets as apposed to just counting all hits the same.  OPS is very interesting.  Power hitters have an advantage with this one. 

When you get deep into the weeds of new acronyms - new ways to evaluate players, you have to use the super computer and add together statistics for all players in the league and create an average.  One of these is the pitching statistic called WAR.  The computer sets up an average for all the things every player does at every position.  WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement.  Whatever statistic you find for a player is compared to the average of all players at the same position doing the same thing:  hitting, running, stealing, etc.  Good teams have many players with a positive WAR.  Poor teams have few if any.  A similar statistic is VORP - value above replacement.  You need a computer to figure either.  These are the ones that have a big effect on trades, and player salaries.