Fun with MLB BABIP/BA stats from 2015

Off 9 To Know, The Bill Chuck Files,

BABIP, or Batting Average on Balls In Play, is a stat that not enough fans, particularly fantasy players, pay attention to when estimating the likelihood that a player’s performance will repeat in a following season.

Let’s just focus on batters’ BABIP  today. Understanding BABIP is very simple as it measures hitter’s success producing hits only on batted balls put into the field of play. This means that you ignore walks, strikeouts and home runs as none are batted balls that land within the field of play.

BABIP formula: Hits minus home runs, divided by at-bats minus home runs minus strikeouts plus sacrifice flies (H – HR)/(AB – HR – K + SF)

Ignore the luck factor in BABIP

Good hitters have high BABIP/poor hitters have low numbers.

For example:

  • Miguel Cabrera is a .321 lifetime hitter with a .348 lifetime BABIP.
  • Justin Smoak is a .224 lifetime with a .259 lifetime BABIP.

Nine to Know: BABIP 2007-2015

There has been consistency in BABIP across the majors over the years

  • 2015 – .299 BABIP
  • 2014 – .299 BABIP
  • 2013 – .297 BABIP
  • 2012 – .297 BABIP
  • 2011 – .295 BABIP
  • 2010 – .297 BABIP
  • 2009 – .299 BABIP
  • 2008 – .300 BABIP
  • 2007 – .303 BABIP

Eleven qualified batters who hit at least .300 with a .350+ BABIP in 2015

See any outliers here?

Player BA BAbip Tm AB H HR BB SO
Miguel Cabrera .338 .384 DET 429 145 18 77 82
Dee Gordon .333 .383 MIA 615 205 4 25 91
Bryce Harper .330 .369 WSN 521 172 42 124 131
Paul Goldschmidt .321 .382 ARI 567 182 33 118 151
Xander Bogaerts .320 .372 BOS 613 196 7 32 101
Joey Votto .314 .371 CIN 545 171 29 143 135
David Peralta .312 .368 ARI 462 144 17 44 107
Jason Kipnis .303 .356 CLE 565 171 9 57 107
Nelson Cruz .302 .350 SEA 590 178 44 59 164
DJ LeMahieu .301 .362 COL 564 170 6 50 107
Christian Yelich .300 .370 MIA 476 143 7 47 101
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/2/2016.

Six qualified batters who hit under .250 with a .300+ BABIP in 2015

See any outliers here?

Player BA BAbip Tm AB H HR BB SO
Dexter Fowler .250 .308 CHC 596 149 17 84 154
Derek Norris .250 .310 SDP 515 129 14 35 131
Addison Russell .242 .324 CHC 475 115 13 42 149
Ian Desmond .233 .307 WSN 583 136 19 45 187
Michael Taylor .229 .311 WSN 472 108 14 35 158
Chris Owings .227 .305 ARI 515 117 4 26 144
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/2/2016.

Eight qualified batters who hit a cumulative .300+ with a .350+ BABIP 2011-15

Player BAbip BA PA AB H HR BB SO Tm
Joey Votto .361 .308 2887 2319 715 102 529 536 CIN
Mike Trout .357 .304 2877 2448 744 139 361 647 LAA
Miguel Cabrera .354 .334 3233 2789 931 161 401 480 DET
Andrew McCutchen .343 .302 3358 2862 864 123 419 607 PIT
Ryan Braun .334 .301 2707 2422 730 127 243 505 MIL
Jose Altuve .331 .305 2932 2721 830 36 146 308 HOU
Buster Posey .329 .313 2618 2316 724 84 250 317 SFG
Melky Cabrera .326 .301 2883 2658 799 60 177 359 KCR-SFG-TOR-CHW
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/2/2016.

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