While baseball and math seem like they’re completely different sports, the number one player on the Oakland Athletics is also an excellent mathematician. And he’s not the only one. There are lots of mathematicians that play baseball, but only a very few that can make it in Major League Baseball.
This is a tough question for me because I’m not a statistician and don’t play or coach, so I don’t have any examples for you.
The name refers to the Major League Baseball Players Association, a union representing all players.
How is OPS Calculated in Baseball?
On-base percentage–the number of times a player gets on base divided by the number of times he/she took a strikeout.
Slugging percentage–the number of times a player hits for extra bases divided by the number of times he/she got on base.
Example OPS Formula
The following player has a lower OBP and SLG. You can see that they have a lower OPS. While he has more RBI than the other player, he is hitting.260 which is really low. If you add the two metrics together, you have a 1.010 OPS, which isn’t even in consideration for an All-Star and MVP season.
What is a Good OPS in Baseball?
OPS is calculated by dividing a player’s on base percentage + slugging percentage + OPS by the number of at bats.
This chart shows the league average in on-base plus slugging over the past eight seasons. When looking at the number, there isn’t much variation in the league’s performance.
What is the Highest OPS in Baseball History?
To that end, here are the highest OPS every season of the modern era. It’s a list of players who have the best OPS over the course of a season. So, they had the highest OPS over the course of the season. Of course, there is a tie for the top spot. That’s the case with Barry Bonds and Albert Belle. They both have the highest OPS every year since their respective starts in 1994 and 1991.
Ted Williams then enters the picture with his 7th best season of OPS of all time. It’s not until the 13th spot that a fourth player, Rogers Hornsby shows up on the list.
What about High OPS Seasons in Recent Years?
Are there Better Stats than OPS?
What if a hitter hits a ball that would’ve been a home run if he were batting an extra base? When calculating a player’s slugging percentage, we can’t ignore that. If your player hits a ball that doesn’t count as an extra base, it adds to his slugging percentage.
Overall, OPS takes a lot into account, and then includes hits, walks, HBP, and even sacrifice flies.
However, OPS is also not without flaws. There are some areas that it glosses over that could provide more insight. For example, even though OPS takes a lot into account, it does not take into account the number of defensive plays made by a player.
OPS is an excellent tool to use for most hitters, because as it was mentioned above, it correlates to runs scored. However, it only applies to players at the major league level.
What about OPS+?
OPS+ is a statistic that accounts for the environment in which the player is hitting. This is done by taking all the numbers and normalizing them to the league average, which gives an idea for how well the player’s produced compared to league average.
Conclusion: What Does OPS Mean in Baseball?
Overall, OPS and OPS+ can give insights into a player’s offensive performance (as well as their on-base average). But like any other sabermetric in baseball, it’s not always easy to measure everything without seeing it for yourself. One of the best suggestions is to consider using OPS and OPS+ together to tell a complete picture of a baseball player’s performance.
