Difference between War and rWar for pitchers

[krownroyal83]

Two different stats in ootp and seem to give slightly different results. What exactly is the difference? Which one should i be using?

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by krownroyal83

Two different stats in ootp and seem to give slightly different results. What exactly is the difference? Which one should i be using?

Depends on what you want. WAR is based on Fielding Independent Pitching, which only looks at the things a pitcher can control, namely walks, strikeouts and HR. A pitcher cannot control what happens when the ball is put into play.

rWAR looks at the runs a pitcher allowed per nine innings, and makes adjustments for the run scoring ability of the opponents he faced, the defense that played behind him, and the parks he pitched in to come up with a runs allowed per nine number that the average pitcher would've allowed given the same circumstances. The comparison between those two is the starting point, and volume of innings will also have an effect on a pitcher's WAR and rWAR. At least that's how rWAR is calculated by Baseball-Reference IRL. I'm not sure how it's calculated in OOTP, as I don't have access to their formulas.

Based on all of that, I would say use WAR when you're looking for a pitcher to sign or trade for because you want a pitcher that best controls what he can control. rWAR works best when looking back at a season or a half season in order to pick award winners or all-stars. It is more of a what happened stat, while WAR is more of a stat that looks at what will probably happen in the future if the pitcher continues to control the things he can control as he has up to that point.

Personally, I combine both when looking at pitchers for awards and all-star selections, and since I play as a commissioner/official historian/fan, I don't worry about what to look at for acquisitions because I don't make any. Up to you how you evaluate them, but now that you have more info on what goes into them, that choice should become clearer for you.