Glossary for Wins Above Replacement Pages

Pitcher Value

• Game Shares (for pitchers) - Estimate of how many games each pitcher was responsible for, based on leveraged innings pitched.
• Won - Not traditional pitcher win. Estimate of the number of wins each pitcher was responsible for. His share, as opposed to the shares of his fielders and offense.
• Lost - See wins above, just the opposite side of the final score.
• W_rec - Player Wins reconciled to the team's actual W-L record.
• L_rec - Player Losses reconciled to the team's actual W-L record.
• WAR - wins above replacement. Calculated as simply wins - game shares * .294
• VS - Victory Shares. As a tribute to Bill James, this is wins * 3, rounded to the nearest integer. Don't expect it to match Bill's Win Shares though. It will in some cases, but that will be a coincidence. In general, victory shares will be higher for pitchers, and since they add up to real wins after the reconciliation, then they have to be a bit lower for hitters.
• WAR_rec - WAR reconciled to the team's actual W-L record.
• VS_rec Victory Shares reconciled to the team's actual W-L record.

Pitcher Details

• Expected Runs - Runs allowed expected based on opponents faced and ballparks pitched in
• Defensive Support - Estimate of how many runs the defense saved for each pitcher, compared to a league average defense. This differs from the original WAR, which prorated defensive support to all pitchers on a team. The new calculation takes into account the team defensive rating, but also how many batters reached base on balls in play while that individual pitcher was on the mound.
• Runs/W - Runs per win. This can vary by the pitcher, great pitchers by shrinking the number of runs per game lower the run per win conversion factor. It is based on innings per game, so a Bob Gibson would shrink the RPW considerably. A one inning reliever only affects the game for one inning, so he would have much less impact on the RPW, even if he had a 1.12 ERA.
• Role Adj - Starter vs. Reliever. This is no longer based on number of games starting vs relieving, but on the actual role a pitcher takes on, based on batters faced per game. Thank the opener for making this change necessary.
• LG Adj - The leagues are not always balanced. This is calculated by comparing the records of players who played in both leagues, at least historically. For more modern seasons, it is based on interleague play. In the 1950s and 1960s, due to their more rapid pace of integration, the National League was much stronger than the American. From the early 2000s to just a few years ago, the American League dominated interleague play and pulled ahead. In very recent seasons, the two leagues are balanced. During World War 2, both leagues are treated as below average as the best players were off fighting the WAR.
• Runs+ - Runs above average.
• Leverage - a measure of how much impact a pitcher's innings have on the outcome of the game. Starting pitchers are around 1.0, a closer is typically around 2.0.
• Run+_Lev - Runs above average adjusted for leverage.
• Wins+ - Wins above average.

Value - Batting and Fielding

• Off GS - How many games each batter is responsible for, based on plate appearances.
• Def GS - How many games each fielder is responsible for, based on position and defensive innings.
• Game Shares - Offense plus Defense
• Bat Wins and Losses - These can be negative! In fact, great players very often have negative loss shares. It's the only way this can work. Consider Barry Bonds at his peak. His game shares was limited by the fact that he got 1/9 of the team plate appearances, but he hit so well that the number of wins contributed was greater than the games assigned to him.
• BW Rec - Batting Wins reconciled to the team's actual W-L record.
• BL Rec - Batting Losses reconciled to the team's actual W-L record.
• The WAR and VS measures are explained above.

Batting and Base Running

• Bat Runs - based on linear weights formula.
• Adj Runs - Batting runs adjusted for ballpark.
• RISP Runs - Additional runs for hitting better or worse than overall numbers with runners in scoring position.
• BSR - Baserunning runs. Includes steals; advances on outs, hits, and other events; and outs made on the bases.
• DP Runs - From avoiding or hitting into double plays. Includes ratings for both the batter and baserunner. This is a change from WAR 1.0, which only looked at the batter. Why? I've researched this, but the clearest example is to look at exactly when Jim Rice became the double play freak stat guy. That would be the year Wade Boggs joined the team.
• ROE runs - From hitting into errors.
• Fielding Runs - this is the sum total at all positions. Includes range, turning double plays, several aspects of catching, and outfield arms.
• Pos Adj - Based on defensive innings.
• DH Adj - Designated hitters don't have defensive innings, do they? So for them, I have to use plate appearances.
• Pitcher Adj - Set so the average pitcher comes out to zero, back in the good old days when pitchers not named Ohtani sometimes swung the bat for themselves.
• RAA - Runs above average. Includes everything except the position adjustment, which is accounted for later. The pitcher adjustment is included in this step.
• RPW - Runs per win. Higher in high offensive environments, lower when run scoring is scarce.
• WAA - Wins above average, which is RAA/RPW. This does not include the position adjustment or league adjustment.
• Pos Wins - Position adjustment (non-pitcher and DH), converted to wins.
• LG Adj - see above for explanation.
• Wins+ - Wins above average, including position and league.

Fielding

• Chances - Sum of outs made and partial hits responsible for.
• DER OAA - Outs above average, based on Defensive Efficiency Record at the player level. For more information about that see DER OAA
• OAA Adj - The same stat, adjusted for ballpark effects. Biggest difference will be for Fenway left fielders, and all outfielders in Colorado.
• DER Runs - Outs saved above average converted to runs. The out to run conversion ratio depends on position but also the scoring level of the league.
• BIP - Balls in play when this player was on the field.
• Plays+ - Plays made above average compared to the league rate per BIP at this position. Some of the numbers here are extreme. No adjustment is made for ballpark, handedness of the pitching staff, or ground ball to fly ball ratios.
• GB+ - similar to plays+ above, but only looking at plays made on ground balls. The denominator is still BIP, which includes every type of hit, ground ball or not.
• Frame R - Catcher Framing Runs. For recent seasons this is calculated from pitch by pitch data available on Baseball Savant. For earlier seasons it is estimated from strikeout and walk data from Retrosheet.
• SBCS R - Catcher runs from throwing out base stealers.
• Block R - Catcher runs from preventing wild pitches and passed balls.
• Err R - Catcher runs from avoiding errors.
• Catcher Runs - Total of SB, CS, blocking, and error runs. This does not include framing or defense on balls in play. Framing and runs from balls in play are however, included in the final Total Defensive runs measure at the end.
• Arm opps - Opportunities where an outfielder might have to make a throw, either on hits or outs.
• OF arm R - Outfield arm runs from throwing out baserunners or preventing them from advancing.
• DP start - Runs saved by starting double plays.
• DP turn - Runs saved from turning double plays, being the player in the middle of the sequence.
• DP runs - Total DP runs, sum of the last 2 measures.
• Tot Def Runs - Sum total of defensive runs saved, combination of all the other stats here.

This page was last modified 3/3/2024