# What stats are best for judging a baseball player? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 29, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402 "2008-01-29T02:23:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402/21 "2008-01-30T16:40:20Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Batting average =hits divided by at bats. RBIs =runs knocked in. Runs scored=number of times you crossed home plate .Stolen bases,on base percentage .total bases. These are all measurable. As soon as you measure defense opinion slips in. Guillen had an errorless season last year. He got hometown calls on disputable calls. Everybody does. Any defensive measurement is suspect due to it is someones opinion whether he should have caught the ball or not. [/QUOTE] By the reasoning contained in your last sentence, every _hit_, with the exception of home runs, is just as suspect. If David Wright hits a line drive toward the gap in center, and crappy new Phillies centerfielder Geoff Jenkins breaks the wrong way at first, then falls down when he reverses direction, and the ball rolls all the way to the wall, and Wright cruises into third base - who decides whether Wright should get credit for a fly-out, a single, a double, or a triple? That’d be the official scorer. Same guy who decides “whether [Ozzie] should have caught the ball or not.” This play has an effect on David Wright’s batting average. Why do you not dismiss batting average with the same casualness as you do defensive statistics, given the potential for human bias to affect the results? ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402/22 "2008-01-30T17:21:32Z")
Wouldn’t Ozzie’s sensational number of assists a season alone be great evidence that he was an extraordinary fielder? If other shortstops, and even past and future Cardinals shortstops (who played in the same stadium), lag way behind, that’d be pretty compelling, no? ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402/23 "2008-01-30T17:28:14Z")
I don’t know which is the best stat to judge baseball. But, I am pretty sure that ER was one of the first shows to be broadcast in HD. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402/24 "2008-01-30T17:42:11Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] But to tell me these defensive greats are way behind Ozzie will not fly. I have seen many incredible plays. Shortstops digging the ball out past second base. Not buying Ozzie was that much better. [/QUOTE] But to tell me that home run greats like Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle and Frank Robinson were way behind Hank Aaron in home runs will not fly. I have seen many incredible home runs. Sluggers hitting balls past 400 feet. Not buying that Hank was that much better than Schmidt. * * * THE FACTS: Hank Aaron, 755 home runs Frank Robinson, 586 Mike Schmidt, 548 Mickey Mantle, 536 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402/25 "2008-01-30T18:33:38Z")
Hank had a shit load of at bats. Homeruns to at bat ratio is a better measurement. Offensive stats are also tainted. Aaron never hit 50. He was not the biggest home run threat of his time. If a guy hits a single and gets tossed out stealing ,should hit hit be erased? Total value is zero. Is a double worth twice as much as a single?Is a homer worth 4 singles? I would suggest not but a sliding scale to evaluate would become the statisticians opinion. How do you count stolen bases. Single steal second,does it become a double. ? Baseball is unique in that it has a huge backlog of data to mine. .It would be impossible to have all the evaluators agree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-stats-are-best-for-judging-a-baseball-player/435402.md?page=1)