Quick Hits from the Minors

With the Olympics over, guys like Matt LaPorta and Brett Anderson are back to work in the minors.

• Matt LaPorta -- While the Olympics weren't a smashing international debut for LaPorta (3 for 19 with 2 home runs), he's back to clubbing AA pitching going 3 for 6 with a home run in his first 2 games since leaving China.
• Brett Anderson -- Anderson also faced some difficulties in China (4.97 ERA in 12.2 IP), but he's back with a vengeance, posting a 59% GB% while striking out 9 and walking just 1 in 6 innings Thursday night. 92.3% of the batters that Anderson faced either struck out or hit a ground ball.
  
• Chris Davis -- The Rangers are pretty much toast for the season, but Davis is heating back up. Since August 18th, he's 13 for 38, with 3 home runs, 5 doubles, and 7 RBI.
• Andrew Lambo -- Does Lambo have a cool nick name yet? Maybe something like "Rambo"? In 5 games at AA, Lambo is holding a .409/.435/.864/1.299 stat line, with 3 home runs.
  
• Madison Bumgarner -- In low A ball where defense can be sketchy at times, it's amazing that an 18 year old (he actually turned 19 on August 1st) has done so well (1.40 ERA) in his first year of professional ball. Mad Bum is lighting it up this month, with 48 strikeouts in his last 32.1 IP and an ERA of 0.28. I wonder if he's beginning to mix in a decent breaking ball, or if he's just doing it all on his fastball still. Either way, he's had an historic season. On a side note, Bumgarner's shrinking GB% suggests that he's letting his fastball drift up high in the zone. For now, those high pitches are helping his strikeout rate, but once he gets to AA ball, those pitches will often find their way into the outfield bleachers.
  
• Angel Villalona -- At 17 years old, he's posting a slugging percentage (16 home runs, 29 doubles) higher than Miguel Cabrera at 17, and an average in the same vicinity as the 17 year old Miggy. Watching Villalona, it's obvious that he's a great hitter, but I don't think he's a great batter. By that, I mean that Villalona has exhibited a very poor pitch selection, with a 23.6%/4.2% K%/BB%, while posting an OBP of .306 on the year. I expect Villalona to hit for more power than Cabrera, but I don't think he'll match Cabrera's OPS production.
• Michael Bowden -- The Red Sox loss is Bowden's gain. With Josh Beckett visiting Dr. James "Death" Andrews, Bowden will face the White Sox to make the first major league start of his career Saturday. I don't expect great things from him right away, but he has lots of potential and could be a very reliable starter alongside Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester in 2 or 3 years.
• David Price -- Price continues to underwhelm me, and I really doubt the Rays will consider using him as a starter this year. Thursday night Price went 5 innings with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks. His August GB% is sitting at 55%, which is good, but he has a just 17 strikeouts in 18 innings at AAA, with 9 walks. It's becoming increasingly obvious that Price's stuff isn't very deceiving to advanced hitters, and his control isn't that great. If you compare his AAA stats to those of Tim Lincecum, Joba Chamberlain, or even Brett Cecil, you can see that for his age, Price isn't doing anything out of the ordinary.
• Brett Cecil -- Speaking of Cecil, how about his start on August 23rd? No hits over 7 innings, with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks. Since moving up to AAA, Cecil has a GB% of 69% in 30.2 innings, with a total of 92% of hitters either striking out or hitting a ground ball (compared to the 75.7% posted by David Price).
  

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Baseball America Hot Sheet for the Week of August 22nd-28th

Hey guys, I apologize for not posting lately. I'm trying to balance a lot of stuff right now, but I haven't forgotten about you!

Anyways, here's the Hot Sheet from the past week as well as my comments.

1. Brett Wallace, 3b, Cardinals -- Everyone knew this guy could hit, but I was almost certain that the move to AA would slow him down a bit. Guess not. 14 for his last 35, with 3 home runs, and 4 doubles. I thought he would walk more than he has, but it's a small sample size.

2. Kyle Blanks, 1b, Padres -- Blanks is still putting up some very good numbers, but he has a huge road block in the way of his future career with the Padres who goes by the name Adrian Gonzalez. I'd love to see Gonzalez get traded to a team with a more hitter friendly ballpark and then watch Blanks take over at first base for the Pads.

3. James Darnell, 3b, Padres -- Good numbers, but I'll still not sure about Darnell. Wait until we see him against A or AA ball pitching.

4. Brian Bogusevic, CF, Astros -- Why was this guy pitching for so long when he could swing the bat like he has over the past couple of weeks? Maybe he's just on a hot streak, but maybe not. The next Rick Ankiel? Who knows (but probably not).

5. Pedro Baez, 3b, Dodgers -- A few good weeks of production don't compensate for being 20 years old and struggling to escape rookie ball.

6. Buster Posey, C, Giants -- Posey will hit where ever he goes, but why didn't the Giants start him at low A instead of the AZL League?

7. Ivan DeJesus, 2b/SS, Dodgers -- The Dodgers need young middle infield talent, but I'm not real high on DeJesus. Good skills, but he won't be a star.

8. Kris Medlen, rhp, Braves -- There isn't much to look forward to if you're a Braves fan, so let's hope Medlen keeps up the good work and makes it to the big leagues in a year or so. My only concern is his GB%, which has dive-bombed since moving to a starting role.

9. Brad Holt, rhp, Mets -- Why is Holt still in short-season rookie ball? Move him up already so we can see him against some better competition.

10. Neftali Soto, 3b, Reds -- Good stick, but will he play at third? If I'm the Reds, I'm looking for more power.

11. Madison Bumgarner, lhp, Giants -- Bumgarner absolutely owns the Hot Sheet. It should be called the "Bumgarner Sheet."

12. Wade Davis, rhp, Rays -- Glad to see Davis pick it up in AAA.

13. Wilson Ramos, C, Twins -- Joe Mauer need not fear Senor Ramos.


That's it folks. I'll post more tomorrow if I get a chance.




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Washington Nationals Top 5 Prospects

I usually like to find the top 5 pitchers and the top 5 hitters from each team for these lists, but the Nationals have such limited talent that I think a top 5 overall list is sufficient. Of all the teams out there, I can’t find many that can match the Nationals lack of young talent in the minors. While they have 2 power hitters in Michael Burgess and Chris Marrero, there’s not much pitching depth, and they failed to sign pitcher Aaron Crow out of Missouri, their top pick from the 2008 draft. All these things combined make for a really weak farm system.

1. Chris Marrero – Right now Marrero is rehabbing a broken leg he sustained in a collision at home plate earlier this year, but he should be back and ready to go by next spring. I’m beginning to have my doubts about him, however I think he still has a lot of potential, so I’ll stick with him for now.

Projection:.255-.290 average, 25-40 home runs, .750-.850 OPS
Comparable player: Jeromy Burnitz with more power

2. Michael Burgess – If Marrero fails to show signs of development next season, Burgess will take over the #1 spot on this list. I guess if we went purely by possible ceiling, Burgess would be ahead of Marrero, but right now he’s being held back by an inflated strikeout rate, which usually sits in the 25-30% range. He has tons of power and could be a real beast one day, but he’s too raw right now to warrant a #1 ranking.

Projection:.260-.290 average, 30-45 home runs, .850-.950 OPS
Comparable player: Mark Reynolds with a bit more power and more strikeouts

*There are a few other hitters that are just beginning their pro ball careers in the Nationals’ system that could prove to be solid players. However, without any substantial amount of stats to go by, I won’t include any of them on this list. Otherwise, there really aren’t any other above average hitters in the system right now.

And now, on to the pitchers…

3. Jordan Zimmermann -- While not the most talented pitcher out there, Zimmermann still has solid numbers all around and good potential. He’s still at least 2 or 3 years from being a productive major league pitcher, but he’ll have some very good years in the future.

Projection: Good #2, possible #1
Comparable player: Mike Pelfrey

4. Jack McGeary – While it’s true that McGeary has only pitched in rookie ball this year, he has shown significantly more potential than all the other pitchers the Nationals have at the moment. I’m going to go with McGeary at #4 on this list for now and hope his numbers aren’t a fluke.

Projection: Unknown, possibly top of the rotation
Comparable player: Unknown

5. Josh Smoker – I’ve been a little disappointed in Smoker thus far, but he’s still got a lot of time, so maybe he’ll come around. With only about 40 innings under his belt there isn’t much to go on, but his low ground ball numbers and average strikeout rates don’t warrant much excitement.

Projection: #3-5 starter
Comparable player: Ian Snell

Honorable mentions: Ross Detwiler, Colton Willems

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Quantum Physics Jinxed Josh Vitters

Yesterday I included Josh Vitters in my Quick Hits from the Minors post, referring to his current hitting streak (which was up to 25 games according to one helpful reader). Turns out I should've kept my mouth shut. Last night Vitters went 0 for 5 and was unable to squeeze out a hit for the first time in almost a month. Playing and following sports (especially baseball) lends itself to little superstitions, and it's my opinion that by calling attention to Vitters' hitting streak, I inadvertantly jinxed the young man and caused his 0-fer.

Could this have been avoided? Yes. Did I do it intentionally? Certainly not. It happens all the time in baseball, whether it be a hit streak or a no-hitter, and it's just one of those things that comes with the territory.

However, I am curious as to why things like this happen. It could be argued that such random events are simply coincedences, but I have another theory. It's my opinion that this type of thing occurs due to basic princples in quantum physics. Once you observe an event, you also change the outcome, so that every time you measure or quantify something, you also change the nature of what you are measuring, thus rendering your analysis obsolete. In this case we tried to measure Josh Vitters' hitting streak, and ultimately rendered it completely obsolete. So, my apologies to Mr. Vitters.

Quick Hits from the Minors and Around the Web

With the Olympics going on and the approach of football season, there hasn't been a lot of chatter about baseball around the internet, but there's still plenty to talk about.

• The U.S. Olympic team has had some interesting moments in Beijing, especially against the Chinese national team. Between the 2 teams, there were 7 beaned batters (including a shot to Matt LaPorta's head), 2 flattened catchers, and 3 ejections.
• Speaking of the U.S. Olympic team, last week I had the chance to watch Trevor Cahill pitch against the Cuban national team. He started out a bit shaky, but once he settled down he looked pretty good. He kept most of the Cuban hitters guessing, and ended with a few strikeouts, lots of ground balls. Cahill pitched 3 scoreless innings this morning against Japan, and teammate Brett Anderson got the win against Canada last Friday. If you're interested in box scores or overall stats, you can check out the U.S. Olympic team's website for more.
  
• Back here in the U.S., the A.L. Rookie of the Year race came to a standstill after Evan Longoria suffered a fractured wrist earlier this month. He should be back around the beginning of September, but it's difficult to say if he'll continue his pre-inury level of play.
• With Longoria on the DL, Chris Davis had a wide open opportunity to steal the spot light and make a run at the A.L. ROY. Unfortunately for him and the Rangers, Davis has seen a dramatic drop in his power prouction, with only 2 home runs and 2 doubles in August and an OPS of just .627 for the month. Overall, he's still hitting for a .275 average, with 12 home runs in 189 plate appearances, but unless he jumps back on the torrid pace he was on in July, he doesn't have a shot at the 2008 ROY.
• For any card enthusiasts out there, the release of 2008 Bowman Chrome is currently sweeping eBay. Other than a few good auto cards, there isn't much to this year's list of prospects.
  

From around the web (click the link to read the article)...

• Notes on David Price's first AAA start
• Joba Chamberlain Mechanics Breakdown

From the minors...

• Matt Wieters -- After 200 plate appearances at AA, Wieters has a .352/.452/.605/1.057 line with 12 doubles, 9 home runs, 32 walks, and 23 strikeouts.
  
• Mike Moustakas -- Over the last 2 months, Moustakas is hitting .316, with 9 home runs and an ISOP around .250.
• Hank Conger -- When Conger started the year with a shoulder injury, I never expected that he'd be able to bounce back and put up the numbers we've seen from him this year (.297/.328/.480/.808). Not stunning numbers, but very good for a young catcher with Conger's potential.
• Madison Bumgarner -- In 21 innings, Bumgarner has a 39.7% K% rate for August, with a 2.7% BB%.
  
• Lars Anderson -- I wasn't a big believer in Anderson at the start of the season, but he has flat out raked at A+ and AA ball this year. After 114 plate appearances at AA, Anderson is hitting .347/.447/.611/1.058, with 5 home runs and 10 doubles. His .483 BABIP suggests that those numbers will come down a bit in the near future, but he still has the potential to be a Boston version of David Wright at first base.
• Dellin Betances -- In his last 18 innings, Betances has 28 strikeouts with a 54% GB% rate.
• Josh Vitters -- I've been looking for game logs on Vitters to see how far back his hitting streak goes, but the search has been unsuccessful. For August, Vitters has a .373/.407/.573/.980 line.
  

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Prospect Smackdown: Brett Cecil vs. David Price

Hey everybody, sorry for the long lapse in posts. I took a bit of a vacation up to the North Carolina mountains, and then I had some family business to tend to, but it's time to get back to business, so let's get to it. For today's post I want to take a look at Brett Cecil -- one of the most overlooked pitching prospects in the minors -- and compare him to David Price, the most hyped pitching prospect in the minors.

I think most people would be very surprised to learn that not only has Cecil matched Price's stats, but he's done so at a younger age and has generally outperformed Price. To get things started, let's just look at the basics.

I don't want to spend a lot of time comparing and contrasting scouting reports or opinions about the 2 pitchers that are bouncing around the internet, but I would like to take a detailed look at each pitchers' stats and performance records over the last year or so.


For the record, Price was at advanced A ball earlier this year, which is a bit more difficult than regular A ball. But it's pretty obvious that Cecil performed very well, and perhaps even better than Price. The 18 months difference in age is quite significant as well.

The above AA ball stats are probably the best numbers to use in comparing these 2 pitchers. AA ball tends to be fairly uniform in terms of difficulty, and both pitchers had 50+ innings while at that level. Once again, the age difference between Cecil and Price is fairly significant, indicating that while their stats seem relatively similar, Cecil is in fact on a more advanced developmental curve than Price. Another interesting point to make is the difference in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), which is an adjustment of ERA that takes into account a team's fielding percentage, park factors, and luck. Cecil's FIP was over a point lower than Price's, suggesting that Price wasn't nearly as dominant as he looked.

I'm not going to spend much time on AAA stats since both pitchers have under 20 innings at this point. Their numbers are a bit skewed, but the general trends are still apparent. Cecil continues to strike out more hitters at a younger age, while also inducing more ground balls. His control isn't quite as good as that of Price, but it's still very good for his age (speaking of his A and AA ball walk rates, and not so much his AAA stats). While their respective ERAs are very high, their FIPs indicate that they've both been a bit unlucky, and their allowed run totals should drop back to about 3 runs per game.

I don't really have much more to say about these 2 pitchers, except that while they are both very good, Cecil is the more talented of the 2. He has some very good comparables, including Roger Clemens and Phil Hughes, and his future looks very bright. I'll try and come up with some projections for him this week, but he easily ranks as one of the top 5 pitching prospects in the game right now, and will likely surprise a lot of people over the next few years.


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S.F. Giants Mid-Summer 2008 Top 5 Pitching Prospects

In a way, the Giants have all the young pitching talent you could ever ask for. With Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain both in the majors and under 25, and Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson in the minors and both under 20, the future looks very bright. However, once you get past those 4 pitchers, there isn’t much else to look forward to for Giants fans. That’s not to say that the Giants don’t have any other above average pitching prospects, they just don’t have anyone else that compares to the likes of Lincecum or Bumgarner. But enough talk, let’s get down to business.

1. Madison Bumgarner – I know that a lot of people feel that Tim Alderson is the top pick, but Bumgarner has just been too dominant at an early age to not give him the #1 ranking. His control has been absolutely amazing, and power lefties can be priceless in the majors. Don’t worry so much about the breaking ball. It’ll come.

Projection: #1 starter
Comparable player: C.C. Sabathia with better control.

2. Tim Alderson – I considered giving Alderson the #1.5 ranking on this list. The age difference between him and Bumgarner comes down to a matter of only 9 months, but those 9 months are enough to just barely set them apart. I realize that Alderson has been pitching at a higher level than Bumgarner this season and the 2 of them have posted similar stats, but he doesn’t have quite the ceiling that Bumgarner has. Regardless, he’ll be an amazing third or fourth starter behind Lincecum and Cain, with the potential to be a great #2 or even average #1 starter.

Projection: Great #2, possible #1
Comparable player: Adam Wainwright

3. Clayton Tanner— Here’s where the list begins to drop off. Unless I completely overlooked someone in the Giants’ farm system, Tanner is pretty much all there is after Alderson and Bumgarner. He’s a decent prospect, and would be a fantastic back-of-the-rotation guy in the future, but his upside is limited. Good stuff.

Projection: #3-4 starter, possible #2
Comparable player: Mike Pelfrey

4. Benjamin Snyder – I think Snyder has above average talent and some decent comparables, but I can’t find anything really great about him. Like Tanner, Snyder could make a great #4 or #5 starter in the future.

Projection: #3-5
Comparable player: Jon Garland

5. Henry Sosa – I realize this won’t be a popular spot for Sosa, but I gotta’ go with the facts. At his age, Sosa really hasn’t done much, and his progress seems to be stalling. Most 23 year olds with average numbers at A+ don’t get much attention, so why should Sosa? Some may argue that injuries have set him back, and his high-90’s fastball will get him to the top, but don’t expect it to happen in the next 5 years. He may eventually put it all together, but the odds are very much against him by now.

Projection: #4-5 starter, good closer
Comparable player: Boof Bonser


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Tampa Bay Rays Top 5 Hitting Prospects

The Rays have done a great job drafting and developing position players, and consequently all of their great young talent is currently in the majors. That leaves some pretty big gaps in the minors, filled mostly by over aged AAAA players. However, there are a few decent prospects, and of course the constant influx of #1 draft picks to keep the Rays going.


1. Tim Beckham, ss, 18 – Can’t bet against a #1 pick with Beckham’s skills. I have no idea how good he’ll actually be, but I trust the Rays enough to believe they knew what they were doing when they selected him.

Projection: ?
Comparable player: ?

2. Desmond Jennings, of, 21 – When you mix speed and an above average on-base percentage you usually can’t go wrong. Unfortunately, Jennings sustained a shoulder injury that will keep him out of action until 2009.

Projection: .290-.320 ave., 15-25 home runs, .775-.850 OPS, 40+ steals
Comparable player: Ron Gant with more speed

3. John Jaso, c, 24 – While not necessarily young, Jaso is at least talented. His greatest asset is his knack for picking up lots of walks wherever he goes without posting giant strike out rates. I’m not sure how many pitches he averages per plate appearance, but I would guess that it’s relatively high, making him a great asset to any team that likes to wear down opposing pitchers.

Projection: .285-.310 ave., 15-20 home runs, .820-.860 OPS
Comparable player: Sean Burroughs, Michael Barrett

4. Reid Brignac, ss, 22 – As long as Brignac can hang at shortstop, he’ll be fine. Even if he has to move somewhere like 2nd base he should be able to stick in the majors. However, his strike out rates aren’t going to translate well at the plate, and his power will lag as a result. Expect some good years, but definitely not right away.

Projection: .275-.290 ave., 25-35 home runs, .810-.875 OPS
Comparable player: Dan Uggla with a little more pop

5. Reid Fronk, of, 21 – I haven’t seen much about Fronk, but I like his skill set and I think he could be a solid fourth outfielder in a few years with a shot at starting in his prime. Above average speed, decent power, and an acceptable plate approach.

Projection: .275-.300, 25-35 home runs, .870-.910 OPS
Comparable player: Rickie Weeks in the outfield


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Ground Ball Grafix: The F/X of the GB

When my dad called to tell me his thoughts on the website last week, we had a conversation that resulted in the creation of the TPC Reference Guide I posted last night. After we covered some of the basics, he wanted to know why I was so obsessed with ground ball rates and why I gave ground ball pitchers so much credit. We went back and forth on the benefits and shortcomings of ground balls from a defensive standpoint, but I'm not sure I explained my reasoning to him all that well.

One of my dad's primary objections to ground balls was that fly balls are so much easier to turn into outs. I couldn't really argue with him on that point, since fielding a grounder involves several steps and multiple players before an out is recorded. I remembered that somewhere between 70-80% of ground balls resulted in an out, but I had no clue what percentage of fly balls turned into an out. My dad guessed about 90% or more, and I guessed somewhere just south of that. After a bit of research, here's what I found.

I only used numbers from the American League (all stats from 2007), but the National League is pretty much the same. On average, a major league team will turn 74% of ground balls into outs, and 83% of fly balls into outs. So, in a way, my dad was right. Ground balls don't create as many outs as fly balls. Here's a graphical representation of the above stats for those of you who like to see instead of read things.

Now that we have the basic numbers nailed down, we still have to figure out why ground balls are better for a pitcher than fly balls, despite the fact that fly balls are easier outs. In order to answer that problem, we have to look at this from a different angle.

In a general sense, a pitcher's job is to create outs. But in more specific terms, his job is to eliminate the creation of runs by the other team. That means that anything that could produce a run becomes the common enemy of all pitchers, including hits, walks, errors, home runs, and so forth. However, it is quite obvious that just as a strikeout will produce an out 100% of the time, a home run will also produce a run 100% of the time. And just like a ground ball doesn't always produce an out, a single or walk doesn't always produce a run. So, there are essentially a variety of levels of enemies a pitcher must deal with, and they are not all created the same.

What does this all mean? It essentially means that fly balls and ground balls don't generally result in the same number of runs. In fact, there's quite a difference between the 2, as you can see in the following chart.


Once again, the graphical representation of the above chart.

On average, a fly ball results in almost 4 times the number of runs as a ground ball. And if you think about it, it makes sense. Most extra base hits (like home runs, doubles, etc.) are the result of fly balls, while ground balls rarely create extra base hits.

If we translate the above numbers into real life, we can see more clearly why fly balls are such a bad thing for pitchers. Let's say we have a group of 7 pitchers, each exactly like the other in every way. They have the same pitching repertoire, the same velocity and movement on every pitch, the same strikeout rates, the same walk rates, the same defense behind them, and so forth. However, they all have a different ground ball rate. The best of them has a 65% GB%, while the worst has a 35% GB%. Per 100 batted balls they allow, how many runs will each of them give up if we go by the MLB average of runs created per ground ball and fly ball?

With a 30% drop in ground ball rate, the a difference of almost 4 extra runs is allowed by the 35% GB% pitcher as compared to the 65% GB% pitcher per 100 batted balls. It may not sound like a lot, but it's a difference of 40.8% more runs allowed by the worst pitcher than the best pitcher on our list. In a season of 162 games, the difference in runs allowed becomes a major issue.

Using a rough estimate, if a pitcher gives up 500 batted balls over the course of a season, that could be a difference of 20 extra runs over 20 to 30 starts. That means our 35% GB% pitcher is giving up an average of close to 1 extra run per start compared to the 65% GB% pitcher. The Braves, who were 4-21 in 1 one run games through July 1st, could certainly have benefited this season from a Chuck James with a 65% GB% instead of the ghastly 28% GB% they've seen from him.

In conclusion, ground balls don't always create the same number of immediate outs as fly balls, but they certainly reduce the numbers of runs an opposing offense can create. Not to mention the fact that by giving up fewer runs a ground ball pitcher can stay in games longer, allowing relief pitchers to carry a lighter load throughout the season, while also giving their team a greater chance to win day in and day out. And that's why if given a choice between 2 seemingly identical pitchers, I always go with the pitcher with the higher ground ball rate.
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TPC Reference Guide and Definitions

Last week my dad called to tell me that he had stopped by to check out the site, and though he liked what he saw, he didn't understand all the terms used in my posts. So, for the next 15 minutes we discussed things like BABIP, WHIP, GB%, and what they all mean. After our chat I realized that casual baseball fans like my dad might need a simple reference guide for terms and definitions. I'll try to list commonly used terms and definitions in this post, and if you all think of any I should add, let me know. If I can figure out a way to do it, I'll try and make this post a side bar link or something.

• AB -- At-bat. Plate appearances minus walks.
  
• BA -- Batting Average
• BABIP -- Batting Average for Balls In Play. (Total Hits - Home runs) / (At-bats - Strikeouts - Home runs - Sacrifices). Shows how often a hitter reaches base after making contact during an at-bat. Generally, a BABIP of .300 is considered the norm, while a BABIP extremely above or below .300 indicates good or bad luck on the hitter's part.
  
• BB -- Bases on Balls, or walks
• ERA -- Earned Run Average. (Earned Runs) / (Innings Pitched / 9)
• GB% -- Ground Ball Percentage. The percentage of all batted balls in play that result in a ground ball. Applies to pitchers and hitters.
• FIP -- Fielding Independent Pitching. Essentially a modified ERA for pitchers. Eliminates the effect that defense has on ERA by only counting the stats that a pitcher has direct control over, i.e. walks, home runs, and strikeouts. FIP is usually considered a more accurate determination of a pitcher's ability than ERA. The formula for FIP is ((HR * 13 + (BB + HBP) * 3 - SO * 2) / IP) + League Factor (which is generally between 3.0 and 3.5 depending on the league and strength of competition). It should be noted that FIP does not compensate for a pitcher's fly ball to groundball ratio, which directly effects run production, and is usually considered a pitcher controlled ratio.
  
• ISOP -- Isolate Power. (Slugging Percentage - Batting Average). Helps define a hitter's power isolated from his contact rates. Power hitters usually post an ISOP above .250.
  
• LD% -- Line Drive Percentage. The percentage of all plate appearances that result in a line drive. Applies to hitters and pitchers.
• OBP -- On Base Percentage. The percentage of a hitter's plate appearances that result in that hitter reaching base safely either through walks and hits.
• OPS -- On Base Plus Slugging Percentage. Combines a hitter's ability to reach base with his power totals.
• PA -- Plate Appearances.
  
• SLG% -- Slugging Percentage. A hitter's total bases from hits divided by his total at-bats.
  
• WHIP -- Walks or Hits per Innings Pitched. A statistic to help track how many batters a pitcher allows to reach base per inning.