Can't We Just Get Rid of Batting Average?
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by Ibearg
Now I know the traditionalists among us (read those over the age over 45) may object, but I propose getting rid of batting average. In fantasy baseball and especially in real life. We shouldn't even bother to measure it. What prompts this… is it the books I’ve read on sabermetrics, or some profound breakthrough I’ve had? Nope, it’s just a stupid statement about Brad Lidge by Jayson Stark. He says in 2005, Lidge was considered the best closer in baseball and in 2007 he was a bust, but his stats aren’t all that different. He cites opponents batting average which was higher in 2005 than 2007. That’s great, but all that shows is that the stat itself it means nothing.
Here are Lidge’s stats for 2005 and 2007.
| Stat | 2005 | 2007 |
| ERA | 2.29 | 3.36 |
| SV | 42 | 19 |
| BLSV | 4 | 8 |
| K/9 | 13.12 | 11.82 |
| K/BB | 4.48 | 2.93 |
| AVG | .223 | .219 |
| OBP | .293 | .312 |
| SLG | .323 | .409 |
| OPS | .612 | .716 |
| HR | 5 | 9 |
You’ll notice the only stat that was better for Lidge in 2005 was avg. and if we can all agree average is all but meaningless it’ll be easy to tell why Lidge was considered a bust in 2007. He struck out fewer people, he allowed more base runners, and he allowed a greater percentage of bases on those base hits. Now would he have been considered as big of a bust if his 2006 season wasn’t so awful (to the tune of an over 5 era)? Maybe not. However it’s clear that blowing 8 saves in 27 opportunities, almost 1/3 of your saves, is not good. Neither were any of his other stats compared to his 2005 season.
Lidge is just one case study on the pitching side of how little batting average matters. I could go on about how OBP and slugging are such better measures for hitters as well, but I think we’ve all heard those arguments. So isn’t it time we all agreed to get rid of batting average. After all, we’ve got computers nowadays; computing the other stats doesn’t need to be done with an abacus.
