On-base plus slugging

On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.[1] The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are represented. An OPS of .900 or higher in Major League Baseball puts the player in the upper echelon of hitters. Typically, the league leader in OPS will score near, and sometimes above, the 1.000 mark.

Equation

The basic equation is

${\displaystyle OPS=OBP+SLG\,}$

where OBP is on-base percentage and SLG is slugging average. These averages are defined.

${\displaystyle OBP={\frac {H+BB+HBP}{AB+BB+SF+HBP}}}$

and

${\displaystyle SLG={\frac {TB}{AB}}}$

where:

In one equation, OPS can be represented as:

${\displaystyle OPS={\frac {AB*(H+BB+HBP)+TB*(AB+BB+SF+HBP)}{AB*(AB+BB+SF+HBP)}}}$

History

On-base plus slugging was first popularized in 1984 by John Thorn and Pete Palmer's book, The Hidden Game of Baseball.[2] The New York Times then began carrying the leaders in this statistic in its weekly "By the Numbers" box, a feature that continued for four years. Baseball journalist Peter Gammons used and evangelized the statistic, and other writers and broadcasters picked it up. The popularity of OPS gradually spread, and by 2004 it began appearing on Topps baseball cards.[3]

OPS was formerly sometimes known as "Production." For instance, "Production" was included in early versions of Thorn's Total Baseball encyclopedia, and in the Strat-O-Matic computer baseball game. This term has fallen out of use.

OPS gained in popularity because team average OPS correlates well with team runs scored. However, it is not mathematically legitimate to use this correlation to assume that individual OPS correlates as well with individual runs created, nor is it legitimate to assume that individual OBP (On Base Percentage) correlates well with individual runs created. Unfortunately, there is no simple way to measure individual runs created.

An OPS scale

Bill James, in his essay titled "The 96 Families of Hitters"[4] uses seven different categories for classification by OPS:

Category Classification OPS Range
A Great .9000 and Higher
B Very Good .8334 to .8999
C Above Average .7667 to .8333
D Average .7000 to .7666
E Below Average .6334 to .6999
F Poor .5667 to .6333
G Very Poor .5666 and Lower

This effectively transforms OPS into a 7-point ordinal scale. Substituting quality labels such as Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Average (D), Fair (E), Poor (F) and Very Poor (G) for the A–G categories creates a subjective reference for OPS values.

The top ten Major League Baseball players in lifetime OPS, with at least 3,000 plate appearances through the end of the 2018 season were:

1. Babe Ruth, 1.1636
2. Ted Williams, 1.1155
3. Lou Gehrig, 1.0798
4. Barry Bonds, 1.0512
5. Jimmie Foxx, 1.0376
6. Hank Greenberg, 1.0169
7. Rogers Hornsby, 1.0103
8. Mike Trout, 1.000
9. Manny Ramirez, 0.9960
10. Mark McGwire, 0.9823

The top four were all left-handed batters. Jimmie Foxx has the highest career OPS for a right-handed batter.

The top ten single-season performances in MLB are (all left-handed hitters):

1. Barry Bonds, 1.4217 (2004)
2. Barry Bonds, 1.3807 (2002)
3. Babe Ruth, 1.3791 (1920)
4. Barry Bonds, 1.3785 (2001)
5. Babe Ruth, 1.3586 (1921)
6. Babe Ruth, 1.3089 (1923)
7. Ted Williams, 1.2875 (1941)
8. Barry Bonds, 1.2778 (2003)
9. Babe Ruth, 1.2582 (1927)
10. Ted Williams, 1.2566 (1957)

The highest single-season mark for a right-handed hitter was 1.2449 by Rogers Hornsby in 1925, 13th on the all-time list. Since 1935, the highest single-season OPS for a right-hander is 1.2224 by Mark McGwire in 1998, which was 16th all-time.

OPS+, Adjusted OPS, is a closely related statistic. OPS+ is OPS adjusted for the park and the league in which the player played, but not for fielding position. An OPS+ of 100 is defined to be the league average. An OPS+ of 150 or more is excellent and 125 very good, while an OPS+ of 75 or below is poor.

The basic equation for OPS+ is

${\displaystyle OPS+=100*({\frac {OBP}{*lgOBP}}+{\frac {SLG}{*lgSLG}}-1)}$

where *lgOBP is the park adjusted OBP of the league (not counting pitchers hitting) and *lgSLG is the park adjusted SLG of the league.

A common misconception is that OPS+ closely matches the ratio of a player's OPS to that of the league. In fact, due to the additive nature of the two components in OPS+, a player with an OBP and SLG both 50% better than league average in those metrics will have an OPS+ of 200 (twice the league average OPS+) while still having an OPS that is only 50% better than the average OPS of the league. It would be a better (although not exact) approximation to say that a player with an OPS+ of 150 produces 50% more runs, in a given set of plate appearances, as a player with an OPS+ of 100 (though see clarification above, under "History").

Through the end of the 2018 season, the career top twenty leaders in OPS+ (minimum 3,000 plate appearances) were:

1. Babe Ruth, 206
2. Ted Williams, 190
3. Barry Bonds, 182
4. Lou Gehrig, 179
5. Mike Trout, 176
6. Rogers Hornsby, 175
7. Mickey Mantle, 172
8. Dan Brouthers, 171
9. Joe Jackson, 170
10. Ty Cobb, 168
11. Pete Browning, Jimmie Foxx, Mark McGwire, 163
14. Dave Orr, Joey Votto , 162
16. Stan Musial, 159
17. Hank Greenberg, Johnny Mize, 158
19. Tris Speaker, 157
20. Dick Allen, Willie Mays, Frank Thomas 156

The only purely right-handed batters to appear on this list are Hornsby, Foxx, Trout, McGwire, and Thomas. Mantle is the only switch-hitter in the group.

The highest single-season performances were:

1. Barry Bonds, 268 (2002)
2. Barry Bonds, 263 (2004)
3. Barry Bonds, 259 (2001)
4. Fred Dunlap, 258 (1884) *
5. Babe Ruth, 256 (1920)
6. Babe Ruth, 239 (1921)
7. Babe Ruth, 239 (1923)
8. Ted Williams, 235 (1941)
9. Ted Williams, 233 (1957)
10. Ross Barnes, 231 (1876) **
11. Barry Bonds, 231 (2003)

* - Fred Dunlap's historic 1884 season came in the Union Association, which some baseball experts consider not to be a true major league.

** - Ross Barnes may have been aided by a rule that made a bunt fair if it first rolled in fair territory. He did not play nearly so well when this rule was removed, although injuries may have been mostly to blame, as his fielding statistics similarly declined.

If Dunlap's and Barnes' seasons were to be eliminated from the list, two other Ruth seasons (1926 and 1927) would be on the list. This would also eliminate the only right-handed batter in the list, Barnes.

Criticism

Despite its simple calculation, OPS is a controversial measurement. OPS weighs on-base percentage and slugging percentage equally. However, on-base percentage correlates better with scoring runs.[5] Statistics such as wOBA build on this distinction using linear weights. Additionally, the components of OPS are not typically equal (league-average slugging percentages are usually 75–100 points higher than league-average on-base percentages). As a point of reference, the OPS for all of Major League Baseball in 2008 was .749.[6]

Notes

1. ^
2. ^ John Thorn and Pete Palmer, The Hidden Game of Baseball, pp. 69-70.
3. ^ Alan Schwarz, The Numbers Game, pp. 165, 233.
4. ^ James, Bill. The 96 Families of Hitters. The Bill James Gold Mine, 2009, p.24.
5. ^ Lewis, Michael (203). Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
6. ^ "2008 Major League Baseball Standard Batting". Baseball-Reference.com.

References

• Thorn, John; Pete Palmer (1984). The Hidden Game of Baseball. Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-18283-X.
• Schwarz, Alan (2004). The Numbers Game. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-32222-4.

The Colorado Rockies' 1997 season was the fifth for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Denver, Colorado, their fifth in the National League (NL), and third at Coors Field. The team competed in the National League West, finishing in third place with a record of 83-79. Right fielder Larry Walker won the NL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), becoming the first Rockies player and Canadian-born player to do so in MLB.

In a season of contrasting dynamics, the Rockies led the NL in attendance, runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage (OBP), and slugging percentage. However, the club was last in earned run average (ERA), as only Roger Bailey and John Thomson pitched enough innings to qualify for the ERA title and produced an ERA under 5.00. Walker, Vinny Castilla, and Andrés Galarraga each hit at least 40 home runs. Walker led the NL in home runs with 49 and OBP (.452), and the major leagues in on-base plus slugging (1.172), while Galarraga led the NL in runs batted in (140).

Derick Neikirk

Derick Lee Neikirk (also spelled Derek Neikirk or Derrick Neikirk, born September 5, 1974) is an American professional wrestler and former professional baseball player. He has competed for several promotions, and currently competes for Impact Zone Wrestling (IZW), a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) based in Phoenix, Arizona. He has also wrestled in several other promotions and was signed to a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for several years. Much of his career has been connected with fellow wrestler Mike Knox, as the two have held championships together as a tag team and have feuded on multiple occasions.

Gross Production Average

Gross Production Average or GPA is a baseball statistic created in 2003 by Aaron Gleeman, as a refinement of On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS). GPA attempts to solve two frequently cited problems with OPS. First, OPS gives equal weight to its two components, On Base Percentage (OBP) and Slugging Percentage (SLG). In fact, OBP contributes significantly more to scoring runs than SLG does. Sabermetricians have calculated that OBP is about 80% more valuable than SLG. A second problem with OPS is that it generates numbers on a scale unfamiliar to most baseball fans. For all the problems with a traditional stat like batting average (AVG), baseball fans immediately know that a player batting .365 is significantly better than average, while a player batting .167 is significantly below average. But many fans don't immediately know how good a player with a 1.013 OPS is.

The basic formula for GPA is: ${\displaystyle {\frac {{(1.8)OBP}+SLG}{4}}}$

Unlike OPS, this formula both gives proper relative weight to its two component statistics and generates a number that falls on a scale similar to the familiar batting average scale.

Jim Edmonds

James Patrick Edmonds (born June 27, 1970) is an American former center fielder in Major League Baseball and a broadcaster for Fox Sports Midwest. He played for the California/Anaheim Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Cincinnati Reds from 1993 to 2010.

Although perhaps best known for his defensive abilities, particularly his catches, Edmonds also was a prolific hitter, batting .284 with 393 home runs and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .903. He is affectionately known by Cardinal fans as "Jimmy Baseball" and "Jimmy Ballgame".

José Oquendo

José Manuel Roberto Guillermo Oquendo Contreras (born July 4, 1963), nicknamed The Secret Weapon, is a Puerto Rican former infielder and current coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He currently serves as special assistant to the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, an organization with whom he has been affiliated since 1985. He managed the Puerto Rico national team in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics. During his playing career, Oquendo proved highly versatile defensively: he played primarily second base and shortstop, but also frequently in the outfield, and made at least one appearance at every position during his MLB playing career. José Oquendo retired with the highest all-time career fielding percentage for second basemen at 99.19% which appears to be second overall today behind Plácido Polanco (99.27%).From Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, the New York Mets signed Oquendo as an amateur free agent in 1979 at age 15. He made his MLB debut with the Mets in 1983 and was traded to the Cardinals in 1985. In 1988, he made his catching debut, giving him an appearance at every position. From 1989–1991, he was the Cardinals' regular second baseman alongside shortstop Ozzie Smith. Oquendo's best season offensively came in 1989, when he batted .291, 28 doubles, .747 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) and a major-league leading 163 games played. In 1990, he produced his best season defensively, recording the fewest errors (three) for a second baseman in a season with at least 150 games played.

Following his playing career, Oquendo coached and managed in the Cardinals' Minor League Baseball system in 1997 and 1998, and became their bench coach at the major league level the following year. In 2000, he became the Cardinals' third base coach, remaining in that role until 2015, while helping lead the club to 11 playoff appearances, including World Series championships in 2006 and 2011 and four National League pennants. He missed the 2016 season after sustaining a knee injury that required surgery and rehabilitation; at the time, he was the longest-tenured coach in MLB. In 2017, he began serving as a special assistant to Cardinals general manager Mike Girsch, instructing at the Cardinals training facility in Jupiter, Florida. For the 2018 season, he returned to the Cardinals major league team to serve as third base coach once again.

List of Atlanta Braves team records

The Atlanta Braves are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Atlanta. The Braves formed in 1876 as the Boston Red Stockings. After moving to Milwaukee for 12 years, the Braves relocated to Atlanta in 1966. Through 2010, the Braves have played 20,053 games, winning 9,945, losing 9,954, and tying 154, for a winning percentage of approximately .500. This list documents the superlative records and accomplishments of team members during their tenures in MLB.

Hank Aaron holds the most franchise records as of the end of the 2010 season, with ten, including most career hits, doubles, and the best career on-base plus slugging percentage. Aaron also held the career home runs record from April 8, 1974 until August 8, 2007. He is followed by Hugh Duffy, who holds eight records, including best single-season batting average and the best single-season slugging percentage record.Four Braves players currently hold Major League Baseball records. Duffy holds the best single-season batting average record, accumulating an average of .440 in 1890. Bob Horner and Bobby Lowe are tied with 13 others for the most home runs in a game, with four, which they recorded on May 30, 1890, and July 6, 1986, respectively. Red Barrett, a Brave for six years, holds the record for fewest pitches by a single pitcher in a complete game, with 58, which he achieved on August 10, 1944.

List of Major League Baseball career OPS leaders

On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging average. The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are represented.

Below is the list of the top 100 Major League Baseball players in career OPS with at least 3,000 career plate appearances.

Babe Ruth is the all-time leader with a career 1.1636 OPS. Ted Williams (1.1155), Lou Gehrig (1.0798), Barry Bonds (1.0512), Jimmie Foxx (1.0376), Hank Greenberg (1.0169), and Rogers Hornsby (1.0103) are the only other players with a career OPS over 1.0000.

List of Philadelphia Phillies team records

The Philadelphia Phillies have participated in 127 seasons in Major League Baseball since their inception in 1883. Through 2009, they have played 19,035 games, winning 9,035 and losing 10,162, for a winning their tenure as members of Major League Baseball's National League.

Chuck Klein, the franchise's only batting Triple Crown winner, holds the most franchise records as of the end of the 2009 season, with eight, including career slugging percentage, career on-base plus slugging (OPS), and single-season extra-base hits. He is followed by Billy Hamilton, who holds seven records, including career batting average and the single-season runs record.

Several Phillies hold National League and major league records. Pitcher/outfielder John Coleman is the most decorated in this category, holding three major league records, all from the franchise's inaugural season. Coleman set records for losses, earned runs allowed, and hits allowed, all in 1883 when he also set three additional franchise pitching records. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins broke Willie Wilson's record for at-bats in a single season with 716 in 2007, and first baseman Ryan Howard also set the major league record for strikeouts in a single season that same year with 199, before it was broken by Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks the following year. The 1930 Phillies, who went 52–102, set two more National League records, allowing 1,993 hits and 1,193 runs in the regular season.

List of St. Louis Cardinals team records

The St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis, Missouri, compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB). in 1892. Before joining the NL, they were also a charter member of the American Association (AA) from 1882 to 1891. Although St. Louis has been the Cardinals' home city for the franchise's entire existence, they were also known as the Brown Stockings, Browns, and Perfectos.

In 134 seasons, the franchise has won more than 10,000 regular season games and appeared in 27 postseasons while claiming 12 interleague championships, tying one other, and 23 league pennants. 11 of the interleague championships are World Series titles won under the modern format since 1903; the other championship and tie occurred in 1885–1886. 19 of the league pennants are NL pennants, and the other four are AA pennants. Their 11 World Series titles represent the most in the NL and are second in MLB only to the New York Yankees' 27.

Notable players have defined, in part, the Cardinals' success and history. Stan Musial owns the most career batting records with 22. Rogers Hornsby owns the most single-season records with 11. Bob Gibson owns the most career pitching records with 18. Silver King owns the most single-season pitching records with nine.

Magneuris Sierra

Magneuris Sierra (born April 7, 1996) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). The St. Louis Cardinals signed him as an international free agent in 2012 and he made his major league debut on May 7, 2017. In 2014, he was the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year after batting .386 with a .939 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).

At the end of each Major League Baseball season, the league leaders of various statistical categories are announced. Leading either the American League or the National League in a particular category is referred to as a title.

The following lists describe which players hold the most titles in a career for a particular category. Listed are players with four or more titles in a category. Active players are highlighted.

Ollie Brown (baseball)

Ollie Lee "Downtown" Brown (February 11, 1944 – April 16, 2015), was an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1965 to 1977. He began his big league career with the San Francisco Giants and was the first draft choice for the expansion San Diego Padres, in 1968.After signing with the Giants, prior to the 1962 season, Brown became quite a double-threat, splitting time as both a starting pitcher and outfielder, in Minor League Baseball (MiLB). In fact, he pitched a no-hitter on August 13, 1963, an 8-0 shutout, while playing for the Class A Decatur Commodores, San Francisco’s farm team, in the Midwest League.A year later, in 1964, Brown was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the California League, while playing for the Fresno Giants (the league champions that year, with an 86-53 record). That summer, he virtually exploded onto the top prospect list, powering 40 home runs (HR), with 133 runs batted in (RBI), while posting a batting average (BA) of .329, and amassing a scathing 1.083 on-base plus slugging (OPS) Sabermetric score.Brown was best known for his defensive skills, particularly the strength of his throwing arm. He would entertain fans, prior to games, by throwing the baseball from the far right field corner to third base, on the fly.His older brother, Willie Brown, was a star football running back at the University of Southern California (USC), and went in to play for the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, of the National Football League (NFL), while younger brother, Oscar Brown, was an outfielder for the Atlanta Braves.Brown died due to the effects of mesothelioma, on April 16, 2015, at his home in Buena Park.

On-base percentage

In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP; sometimes referred to as on-base average/OBA, as the statistic is rarely presented as a true percentage) is a statistic generally measuring how frequently a batter reaches base. Specifically, it records the ratio of the batter's times-on-base (TOB) (the sum of hits, walks, and times hit by pitch) to their number of plate appearances. It first became an official MLB statistic in 1984.

By factoring in only hits, walks and times hit by pitch, OBP does not credit the batter for reaching base due to fielding errors or decisions, as it does not increase when the batter reaches base due to fielding error, fielder's choice, dropped/uncaught third strike, fielder's obstruction, or catcher's interference.

On-base percentage is added to slugging average to determine on-base plus slugging (OPS). The on-base percentage of all batters faced by one pitcher or team is referred to as on-base against.

On-base plus slugging plus runs batted in

On-base plus slugging plus runs batted in (OPSBI) is a baseball statistic calculated as the normalized sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage added to their runs batted in. Former Major League Baseball general manager, Jim Bowden, created this statistic. Hall of Fame outfielder, Babe Ruth, holds both the single-season and career OPSBI records.

Pete Palmer

Pete Palmer (born January 30, 1938) is an American sports statistician and encyclopedia editor. He is a major contributor to the applied mathematical field referred to as sabermetrics. Along with the Bill James Baseball Abstracts, Palmer's book The Hidden Game of Baseball is often referred to as providing the foundation upon which the field of sabermetrics was built.Palmer began his career as a baseball analyst when he worked for the Raytheon Corporation as a radar systems engineer. At night, after his co-workers had left for the day, Palmer used the company's (at the time) cutting-edge computers to run advanced simulations analyzing historical baseball statistics. In 1982, Palmer gained notoriety when he recognized a scorekeeper's error as he pored over decades-old box scores, discovering that Nap Lajoie's 1910 batting average was several points higher than Ty Cobb's, causing the official Major League Baseball record books to be re-written. Palmer also innovated the Linear Weights method of estimating a player's offensive contributions, an invention that will likely be his lasting legacy. Palmer, with help from Dick Cramer, invented OPS (on-base plus slugging) in 1978, which now is universally accepted as a measure of batting ability.

Many of Palmer's early works were written in partnership with John Thorn, including The Hidden Game of Baseball and Total Baseball; the latter book also featured, in later editions, the contributions of editor Michael Gershman. Palmer edited or served as a consultant for many of the sports reference books produced by Total Sports Publishing. Palmer's most recent work has been in collaboration with Gary Gillette. Since 2003, the pair has produced five editions of the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, and several other baseball annuals. In 2010 he was named a charter member of the Henry Chadwick Society by SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) and also received a lifetime achievement award from them in 2018.

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Walks plus hits per inning pitched

In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched.WHIP reflects a pitcher's propensity for allowing batters to reach base, therefore a lower WHIP indicates better performance.

While earned run average (ERA) measures the runs a pitcher gives up, WHIP more directly measures a pitcher's effectiveness against batters. WHIP accounts for pitcher performance regardless of errors and unearned runs. On-base plus slugging, or OPS, a comparable measurement of the ability of a hitter, is another example of comparison.

Yuichi Honda

Yuichi Honda (本多 雄一, Honda Yūichi, born 19 November 1984, in Onojo, Fukuoka-ken) is a Japanese baseball player. He has been with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks since 2006, and plays as second baseman, wearing number 46. In 2008, he batted .291.　From 2006 to 2009 he was .670 on-base plus slugging.

In 2013, he played for Japanese national baseball team in 2013 WBC

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