Is OPS a Slightly Flawed Statistic?

[Kimmi]

No stat is flawless, because there are a lot of things stats don't measure. But nothing beats OPS when you want a quick look of a guy's offensive profile. wOBA and wRC+ are great, but not necessarily as accessible or easy to understand as OPS and OPS+ .

 

wOBA and wRC+ are easily accessible for those who are not averse to Fangraphs, though most casual fans are probably not aware of its existence.

 

For its simplicity, OPS does a pretty good job.

[Kimmi]

I agree. UZR is a relative stat. It measure players against the performance of other players. It is like scaling scores on an exam. If most of the class is stupid, the top score is less indicative of how much has been learned by the top student. Fielders are rated on a scale against all other fielders in their position, so how they are rated depends upon the overall quality of fielding at that position for that season. It is based on a subjective measure: deciding what plays a fielder should have made. It takes more than one season of data to come up with a reliable number. The zones themselves are somewhat arbitrarily drawn. Too many moving parts to get a very reliable number. Just because you use math and put a number to something does not mean it is an accurate description of reality.

 

UZR has its flaws, but it is light years ahead of any of the traditional defensive stats. As you mentioned in another post, to get a true assessment of a player, you need to look at as many metrics as possible, as well as watch the player play.

 

That said, if I'm going to choose one defensive stat by which to judge a player, it would be UZR. Personally, I tend to look at both UZR and DRS, and I think that gives me a pretty good idea of how a player has performed defensively.

[User Name]

wOBA and wRC+ are easily accessible for those who are not averse to Fangraphs, though most casual fans are probably not aware of its existence.

 

For its simplicity, OPS does a pretty good job.

 

So it's not as accesible as OPS and OPS+ because of that exact same reason. In general, the casual fan is averse to Fangrpahs, and will dismiss out of hand any statistic that is not easily understandable.

[Kimmi]

So it's not as accesible as OPS and OPS+ because of that exact same reason. In general, the casual fan is averse to Fangrpahs, and will dismiss out of hand any statistic that is not easily understandable.

 

I was not disagreeing with you.

[User Name]

I was not disagreeing with you.

 

I know. I was clarifying the specific reason.