While some skeptics find them overly abstract, theyve been generally embraced by Major League Baseball and those who know most about the game. PA Plate Appearances: The number of completed turns at the plate a player has taken throughout the season. Each of these players holds a different position. K% Strikeout Rate: K% indicates the percentage of the time that a pitcherretires batters with a strikeout, defined as total strikeouts divided by total number of batters faced. A batter is also awarded an RBI for themself for a home run. Advanced Stats. With all of the stats thrown around in conversation, I still sometimes get the feeling people are talking a language I dont understand Of course, the players those pitches are designed to conquer have an entirely different goal in mind. GF = Games Finished A pitcher is credited with a game finished if he is the last pitcher to pitch for his team in a given game, provided he was not the starting pitcher. 2B = Double A double is scored when a batter hits the ball and successfully reaches second base without a defensive error. E = Error A fielder is charged with an error if they fail to make a play that they should have been able to make using common effort. Pop ups are easily fielded, but often go hand-in-hand with a high flyball rate, a markedly negative indicator of pitching ability. Barrel it up: Hitting the baseball with the sweet spot of the bat. Lead runner: Refers to the baserunner that is closest to home plate when there is more than one baserunner. ARB Arbitration eligible. IP: Innings pitched the number of innings that the pitcher has remained in the game. Find a gap: hitting the ball between the gap in the outfielders. This number does not include line drives. Baseball Acronyms and Baseball Abbreviations - List of 1.9k How batters make it to a base Getting on base is a batter's primary task, and the first step to scoring runs, which is the way to win and lose games. This is a based on the official scorers judgment. A player's WAR value is claimed to be the number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player were substituted with a replacement . Teams with a batting lineup full of hitters with high P/PA numbers are likely to wear out opposing pitchers more quickly, forcing the opposing team to rely more heavily on their bullpen. SAC/SH Sacrifice Bunts: The number of sacrifice bunts or sacrifice hits a player has made throughout the season. This one is pretty easy. Account for these differences when comparing the FPCT of fielders playing different positions. Only successful sacrifices are counted, so a baserunner must advance in order for the sacrifice to be tallied. This ratio is not particularly useful as a handicapping tool. QS = Quality Start A game in which a starting pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. GB% Groundball Rate: The percentage of balls hit into play that are characterized as ground balls. A Glossary of Baseball Positions and Their Abbreviations On-deck: Refers to the next player up to bat. SO = Strikeout Commonly noted as a K, the pitcher is credited with a strikeout when the batter receives 3 strikes during an at bat. ERA: Earned Run Average the average number of runs earned against a pitcher through nine innings. Only the pitcher who puts the winning run on-base will be credited a loss. nine Ken Griffey Jrs.). ER = Earned run Earned runs are the total number of runs allowed by a pitcher that were not the result of a defensive error or a passed ball by the catcher. O Outs: Teams or players record an out every time a player at bat or running the bases is retired by the fielding team as the result of a strikeout, groundout, or caught flyout. Most often, this occurs when a ground ball is fielded with a runner on first and both the existing baserunner and hitter are thrown out. Triple: When a batter makes a successful hit on the ball and reaches third base. Every baseball game features hundreds of pitches from 60 feet, 6 inches, each serving one defined purpose: to defeat a hitter. Pull% = Pull Percentage Percentage of batted balls hit to the pull field. Browse the list of 1.9k Baseball acronyms and abbreviations with their meanings and definitions. Pitchers are credited with an appearance regardless of when they enter the game or how many batters they face throughout. Circus catch: When an outfitter makes an acrobatic catch. Widely popularized by the filmMoneyball, sabermetrics have become an instrumental part of both team management and baseball handicapping. Cent% = Center Percentage Percentage of batted balls hit to the middle of the field. Some Major League teams have added one additional acronym to the scoreboard that sits directly to the right of R, H, and E. This acronym is LOB and it stands for Left On Base. The concept of these metrics is the same, but the formula to calculate them differs slightly. BA = Batting average A hitters batting average is calculated by taking the number of hits divided by the number of official at bats. There you have it, 100 of the most used baseball terms and stat acronyms that every player and fan should know. Baseball Gear & Equipment, How to Help a Kid Throw Faster in Baseball, Understanding Catcher Signals in Baseball, Travel Baseball: A Guide For Parents & Players, What Is The Best Pitching Machine For The Money, Is The Pocket Radar Ball Coach Accurate? The largest elimination number among the non-first place teams is the magic number for the leading team. Fly ball or Pop fly: When a batter hits a ball high into the air. Note that Major League Baseball records each of these stats for both individual players and every team collectively. SLG = Slugging average Also known as slugging percentage, SLG is the total number of bases achieved divided by the total number of at bats. Enter the game with a lead or three runs or less and pitch at least one complete inning. Catchers record a passed ball anytime they fail to catch or control a pitch the official scorekeeper does not deem as a wild pitch. CG = Complete game A complete game is when a pitcher is the only player to pitch for their team during an entire game. PB = Pass Ball A catcher is given a passed ball if he cannot hold onto a pitch and as a result at least one runner moves up on the bases. I hope you found everything you were looking for and if you have any other questions, please let me know and Ill be happy to help. HLD is helpful in identifying strong relief pitchers who typically enter the game earlier or do not serve as closers. OBP: On-base percentage the average number of times a batter reaches a base per plate appearance. Defensive players are not to be overlooked. Baseball Stats Abbreviations Let's get started with batting and then work our way through 1B = Single - A single is scored when a batter hits the ball and successfully reaches first base without a defensive error. Bat flip: A celebration from a batter usually after hitting a home run where the batter throws their bat in the air. For baseball-specific betting advice, check out the tips and tricks in the MLB section of our how to bet on sports series. WAR: Wins Above Replacement Sabermetric baseball statistic to sum up a players total contributions to his team based on batting runs, baserunning runs, fielding runs, positional adjustment runs and replacement level runs. Game Score A Bill James metric that measures a pitchers dominance or lack thereof in a given start. Thank you and You are most welcome. Some of these terms are also commonly used by announcers when calling a game. The theoretical winning percentage of a team comprising nine of the same players (e.g. Pre-Arb is before a player is arbitration eligible. If you are a coach or avid baseball fan, you should also learn how to score a baseball game.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'baseball_tools-medrectangle-4','ezslot_1',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-baseball_tools-medrectangle-4-0'); To start things off we are going to look at some of the acronyms used for both pitching and hitting statistics. WPCT = Winning Percentage Calculated by dividing the total number of wins by the total number of decisions (wins plus losses). If the notation is for offense, the "S" could mean "Sacrifice" (as in a bunt or fly ball), it might even be a "steal," although that is usually noted as "SB." Some scorers note strikeouts as "S" but those are usually written as "SO," or, more typically, "K." And it wouldn't surprise me if "S" stood for "Single." P/PA Pitches Per Plate Appearance: P/PA simply averages the number of pitches a batter faces when they take the plate. Baseball Stats Abbreviations What Do They Mean. CHS = Number of Changeups thrown for strikes, CHS% = Percentage of Changeups thrown for strikes, CTS = Number of Cutters thrown for strikes, CTS% = Percentage of Cutters thrown for strikes. Barrel A batted ball with the perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle, or the most high-value batted balls. GO: Groundouts when the batter hits the ball on the ground and is tagged out before reaching first base. There are a lot of terms used during an average baseball game. Baseball stats explained for beginners: Batting statistics - Bless You Boys These pitchers allow more rest for their teams bullpen and tend to be highly efficient. xFIP (expected fielding independent pitching) A subset of FIP, this substitutes a pitcher's actual home run-fly ball rate with the league average of around 10 percent to erase any kinds of large. Having grown up and still living in Africa my sporting passions have always been cricket and rugby. The plethora of baseball stats available make it a particularly enticing game for sports bettors. Terms & Conditions apply to all bonus offers advertised. 2023 Sports Betting Dime. Pitchers with a high SVO tally are often put in high-pressure game situations, indicating their managers have a great deal of faith in their abilities to maintain a crucial lead late in the game. DEFENSE Assist (A) Caught Stealing Percentage (CS%) Double Play (DP) Error (E) Fielding Percentage (FPCT) Innings Played (INN) Out (O) Outfield Assist (OFA) Passed Ball (PB) Putout (PO) Total Chances (TC) Triple Play (TP) OFFENSE At-bat (AB) Batting Average (AVG) Caught Stealing (CS) Double (2B) Extra-base Hit (XBH) Games Played (G) W Wins: Pitchers are credited with a win when they are on the mound when their team takes the game-winning lead. Players with high ISO values can be expected to be very strong batters who often rank highly in terms of home runs. Methods of reaching base that are considered to have higher scoring potential are weighted more heavily. 1) Figure runs created per 27 outs [Note: Total outs = (AB - H + C + GIDP + SH + SF . CS: Caught stealing when a runner tries to steal a base but is tagged out before reaching the base. Ace: The teams number one starting pitcher. WP Wild Pitches: Wild pitches are tallied anytime a pitcher delivers a ball that the catcher is unable to control, resulting in the advancement of at least one baserunner. AO Fly Outs: The number of times a player has hit a fly ball that was caught for an out.