Statistic Benchmarks

[jozza800]

I have recently bought OOTP 13. I am quite new to baseball, although I do understand how the game works and watch a fair amount of MLB.

The thing I am a bit lost on is statistical benchmarks. What averages make a good batter or pitcher?

Using a sport i fully understand as an example, cricket. A batsman with an average of 40.00 (average runs per innings) is the standard for a top order batsmen and 25.00 (average runs conceded per wicket) for a bowler. (If you dont follow cricket then you are in the same boat as me when it comes to baseball).

What is considered average and what is considered very good when it comes to baseball stats?

[Nunyer]

Aside from watching some highlight clips on Youtube, I am completely clueless when it comes to cricket... although it has similarities to baseball... so I'll try to give you a very high level view.

For hitters:
.300 batting average (AVG) or higher is generally considered good. A batting average of .250 or lower is considered not so good. Anything in between .250 and .300 is probably where most of the average players will fall. Of course there are other things to consider, such as home run / extra base power, the ability to draw base-on-balls, etc... but this is the view from 50,000ft.

For pitchers:
An earned run average (ERA) of 3.00 or lower is considered good, anything 5.00 or over would be not so good. Most average pitchers will fall inbetween. Again, lots of other things to look at... but if you are just starting out, I hope this would be a decent baseline. I know I would lost at first if I started playing Out of the Park Cricket.

I'm sure others can chime in and add more in-depth information.

[Raffke]

Batsmen who have a test batting average under 40:
- Shane Watson
- Michael Atherton
- Hansie Cronje
- Alan Lamb
- Michael Gatting
- Yuvraj Singh
- JP Duminy
- Alec Stewart
- Kim Hughes

I was surprised at some of the names that were on the list under and around 40. Recently it seems that an average of 50 is pretty pedestrian but apparently it is quite difficult to maintain that pace for a long time. Most surprisingly is how is Shane Watson not under pressure with his average of 39?

Bowlers with an average above 25? Ian Botham, Daniel Vettori, Harbajhan Singh, Craig McDermott, Makhaya Ntini, Chaminda Vaas. You could make a pretty handy team out of these guys.

How good was Curtley Ambrose - average of 20.99 over a 100 tests.

Anyway this isn't particularly helpful for your query but i like an opportunity to look at cricket stats.

Cheers

[Charlie Hough]

Batting average (AVG) and on-base percentage (OBP) are good indicators for effective batters.

AVG
.300-above = excellent
.275 - .299 = very good
.250 - .274 = above average
.225 - .249 = below average
.225-below = poor
.200-below = very poor, not a legitimate MLB player

OBP
Same as above, except you might add another .50 points or so. This is because on-base percentage counts the total number of appearances at the plate and computes the average number of times that the player gets on base. So OBP tends to be higher than AVG, as it includes at-bats that result in walks, reaching base on errors, etc. Btw, sacrifice bunts do not count against a player for OBP.


ERA and WHIP are probably ideal indicators for pitchers.
ERA = Earned Runs * 9 / Innings Pitched.

ERA
2.00-below = almost superhuman, especially in modern MLB
3.00-below = excellent
3.00 - 4.00 = above average to very good (historically sometimes average)
4.00 - 4.50 = average (historically sometimes below average)
4.50 - 5.00 = below average to poor (historically sometimes very poor)
5.00-above = poor to very poor and terrible

WHIP
You want this to be as low as possible. It's walks + hits / innings pitched.

A WHIP of 1.50 and below is usually quite good. If a pitcher can get down to 1.3, then he's very good. A pitcher above 1.50 is going to have more problems getting batters out at times, and he will tend to surrender more runs. However, WHIP isn't everything. If a pitcher doesn't give up a lot of hits and walks, but he tends to give up BIG hits like home runs, doubles, and triples, then he might have a decent WHIP but poor ERA.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Batting average (AVG) and on-base percentage (OBP) are good indicators for effective batters.

AVG
.300-above = excellent
.275 - .299 = very good
.250 - .274 = above average
.225 - .249 = below average
.225-below = poor
.200-below = Brandon Inge

OBP
Same as above, except you might add another .50 points or so. This is because on-base percentage counts the total number of appearances at the plate and computes the average number of times that the player gets on base. So OBP tends to be higher than AVG, as it includes at-bats that result in walks, reaching base on errors, etc. Btw, sacrifice bunts do not count against a player for OBP.


ERA and WHIP are probably ideal indicators for pitchers.
ERA = Earned Runs * 9 / Innings Pitched.

ERA
2.00-below = almost superhuman, especially in modern MLB
3.00-below = excellent
3.00 - 4.00 = above average to very good (historically sometimes average)
4.00 - 4.50 = average (historically sometimes below average)
4.50 - 5.00 = below average to poor (historically sometimes very poor)
5.00-above = poor to very poor and terrible

WHIP
You want this to be as low as possible. It's walks + hits / innings pitched.

A WHIP of 1.50 and below is usually quite good. If a pitcher can get down to 1.3, then he's very good. A pitcher above 1.50 is going to have more problems getting batters out at times, and he will tend to surrender more runs. However, WHIP isn't everything. If a pitcher doesn't give up a lot of hits and walks, but he tends to give up BIG hits like home runs, doubles, and triples, then he might have a decent WHIP but poor ERA.

You know that's what you meant

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by David Watts

You know that's what you meant

I still maintain that anyone with minimal knowledge of baseball needs to start with AVG and ERA as the basis. Save more advanced stats for later.

The OP seems to have watched quite a lot of baseball, though, so I think I can recommend something a bit more adventurous.

[jozza800]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Batting average (AVG) and on-base percentage (OBP) are good indicators for effective batters.

AVG
.300-above = excellent
.275 - .299 = very good
.250 - .274 = above average
.225 - .249 = below average
.225-below = poor
.200-below = very poor, not a legitimate MLB player

OBP
Same as above, except you might add another .50 points or so. This is because on-base percentage counts the total number of appearances at the plate and computes the average number of times that the player gets on base. So OBP tends to be higher than AVG, as it includes at-bats that result in walks, reaching base on errors, etc. Btw, sacrifice bunts do not count against a player for OBP.


ERA and WHIP are probably ideal indicators for pitchers.
ERA = Earned Runs * 9 / Innings Pitched.

ERA
2.00-below = almost superhuman, especially in modern MLB
3.00-below = excellent
3.00 - 4.00 = above average to very good (historically sometimes average)
4.00 - 4.50 = average (historically sometimes below average)
4.50 - 5.00 = below average to poor (historically sometimes very poor)
5.00-above = poor to very poor and terrible

WHIP
You want this to be as low as possible. It's walks + hits / innings pitched.

A WHIP of 1.50 and below is usually quite good. If a pitcher can get down to 1.3, then he's very good. A pitcher above 1.50 is going to have more problems getting batters out at times, and he will tend to surrender more runs. However, WHIP isn't everything. If a pitcher doesn't give up a lot of hits and walks, but he tends to give up BIG hits like home runs, doubles, and triples, then he might have a decent WHIP but poor ERA.

That's a great post. Thanks you very much.

How about totals? How many HR/RBIs a season, how many stolen bases. Same with Pitchers. innings pitched, Ks etc.

And finally how do you judge defence? Errors? Catches?