Most overrated baseball stats????

[bravos4evr]

Many stats that we grew up with have later been found to be fairly bad at describing a player's value. Which stat do YOU think is overrated in this day and age?

Hits? avg? wins? saves? RBI's maybe? I will run a two week poll and hopefully we can have a lively (yet friendly) discussion!

[bravos4evr]

my vote goes to pitcher wins because so much of it is out of their hands.

Pitcher A can go 8 give up zero runs and leave with a 1-0 lead, the closer comes in, blows the save and a walk-ff homer gives them the vultured win! (not to mention how much wins are contingent on offense)

[howard38]

The sacrifice fly. Why should a fly ball that scores a run not count as an official AB when a run scoring ground ball does? Saves/blown saves are overrated as well because of how the deck is stacked against middle relievers.

[Topps206]

You could have 30-40 saves and an ERA of 4.00 or 5.00. That says a lot.

[EvilKing00]

I voted wins, but for those who think WAR is a stat id say war is most overrated


http://metsmerizedonline.com/2014/01...hen-drew.html/

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by Topps206

You could have 30-40 saves and an ERA of 4.00 or 5.00. That says a lot.

I'd love to see a stat for relievers that tracks inherited runners allowed to score.

[bravos4evr]

Originally Posted by dgo71

I'd love to see a stat for relievers that tracks inherited runners allowed to score.

I think, and don't quote me now, that Baseball prospectus tracks this. Fangraphs may too but I have never looked.

[bravos4evr]

Originally Posted by howard38

The sacrifice fly. Why should a fly ball that scores a run not count as an official AB when a run scoring ground ball does? Saves/blown saves are overrated as well because of how the deck is stacked against middle relievers.

this is a good point. sac bunt isn't an at bat, sac fly isn't, yet a ground ball that does the same thing is. IMO, it is bad for the hitter to give up an out for a base except when it is very late in the game. I think they should all count towards plate appearances and AB's myself. (In a similar fashion the idea that "you can't assume the double play" is also flawed, it's not like the games are played with blindfolds on, official scorers have lots of tools available to tell whether or not the double play could be assumed. )

[rats60]

Originally Posted by bravos4evr

this is a good point. sac bunt isn't an at bat, sac fly isn't, yet a ground ball that does the same thing is. IMO, it is bad for the hitter to give up an out for a base except when it is very late in the game. I think they should all count towards plate appearances and AB's myself. (In a similar fashion the idea that "you can't assume the double play" is also flawed, it's not like the games are played with blindfolds on, official scorers have lots of tools available to tell whether or not the double play could be assumed. )

One a sacred bunt, the hitter is deliberately giving himself up to advance the runner. On a sacred fly, the batter is trying for a hit, but is not penalized for making an out if the runner scores. In my opinion, the hitter shouldn't be penalized for the sacred bunt, but should for the hit.

I agree that war is the most overrated stat. It is random, fwar and bwar are calculated differently and the formula for bwar was completely changed a couple years ago. For comparing players at different positions, it is completely worthless.

[bravos4evr]

Originally Posted by rats60

One a sacred bunt, the hitter is deliberately giving himself up to advance the runner. On a sacred fly, the batter is trying for a hit, but is not penalized for making an out if the runner scores. In my opinion, the hitter shouldn't be penalized for the sacred bunt, but should for the hit.

I agree that war is the most overrated stat. It is random, fwar and bwar are calculated differently and the formula for bwar was completely changed a couple years ago. For comparing players at different positions, it is completely worthless.

no it isn't, it's the single best thing we have to compare across position and generation. It isn't perfect, but if perfection is your requirement for a good stat 99% of all baseball stats are worthless.

It's a formula, even if you aren't a fan of the defensive part of it (and I can see the argument for that) every single player is run through the same formula so the ratios are at least close. (and that's the purpose of WAR, it's there to give a quick thumbnail number to compare. It's not like there is a major difference between a 5WAR season and a 4.8 WAR season, they are pretty much even)

Now some people may USE WAR in a wrong manner, but the number itself does exactly what it's designed to do. It's still far better than something like batting avg which tells us pretty much nothing.