Morning folks,
One of the greatest challenges inherent in producing content for this site is the use of statistics. It's tough to find a happy medium between using less relevant stats that everyone will recognize and burying the average reader in acronyms they might not know or understand.
I occasionally get requests to add a glossary of terms to the site to explain some of the stats we frequently cite: numbers like wOBA, FIP, UZR and WAR. I do intend to get around to that eventually, but it's a daunting task.
In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more about the numbers we use here I'd highly recommend you check out Lee Panas' book, Beyond Batting Average. You might also know Lee as the voice behind Tiger Tales. Here's his summary of what he set out to accomplish:
Over the past few decades, a multitude of advanced hitting, pitching, fielding and base running measures have been introduced to the baseball world. This comprehensive sabermetrics primer will introduce you to these new statistics with easy to understand explanations and examples. It will illustrate the evolution of statistics from simple traditional measures to the more complex metrics of today. You will learn how all the statistics are connected to winning and losing games, how to interpret them, and how to apply them to performance on the field. By the end of this book, you will be able to evaluate players and teams through statistics more thoroughly and accurately than you could before.
Lee was kind enough to give me a copy of the paperback edition of Beyond Batting Average, which I've added to the prize pool for the 2010 Prediction Contest. If you'd like your copy sooner than that, follow this link to order a paperback or download the PDF.
Thanks again to Lee for giving us a copy of the book to give away, and for producing such a great reference tool.