Fun with MLB BABIP/BA stats from 2015
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 | 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 |
Six qualified batters who hit under .250 with a .300+ BABIP in 2015
See any outliers here?
Player | 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 |
Eight qualified batters who hit a cumulative .300+ with a .350+ BABIP 2011-15
Player | 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 |