Sabermetric Stat: On Base + Slugging (OPS)

Hey there, let’s check out the sabermetric stat known as OPS, or On-base plus slugging.

First off, OPS is just OBP + SLG. That’s it.

 

While

Truthfully, I do not believe in OPS. OPS does not represent a complete idea of a player’s offensive capabilities and contributions. For example, OPS does not include on base running or stealing. In fact, OPS is very vague for a sabermetric, and doesn’t really have any meaning to it. It’s much easier to look at OBP and SLG separately. This is because OBP and SLG have two different roles, and OPS weights the two stats equally. 

OBP is more of a factor in scoring  runs (there is a strong positive linear relationship with OBP and runs scored). SLG just calculates a person’s ability to hit home runs or doubles (Barry Bonds has a career .607 SLG, while little David Eckstein has a career .355 SLG).

Let’s take the Oakland Athletics, for example. If you have seen the movie Moneyball, one thing that they capture really well from Billy Beane’s method of running a team is getting people on base (hence, On base percentage). He still does it today; the A’s team OBP is .329, which is the 6^th best in the Major Leagues. That’s good enough to get you as an above .500 team. Their slugging percentage is .399, which is 17^th in the MLB. OPS would just combine the two, so they’d be 11^th in OPS.  Yet they still post a 38-27 record. They are not the 11^th best team, they are more like the 6^th best team.  You decide which one is more important, and if OPS would even make a factor. 

Right now Chris Davis, Miguel Cabrera, and Troy Tulowitzki are the top OPS players with 1.095, 1.091, and 1.073, respectively. All three of them are up for the MVP in their respective leagues. The highest OBP is Joey Votto, Miguel Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo with .446, .444, and .433, respectively. That means that for every time they step up to the plate, they will reach a base 44% of the time, which is very, very good. The top sluggers are Chris Davis, Troy Tulowitzki, and Miguel Cabrera, with .684, .654, and .647 respective averages. 

Besides Miguel Cabrera, who is probably the best hitter in the world right now, the other leaders were different. Chris Davis and Troy Tulowitzki both have high OBP as well, but Votto and Choo have a lower SLG. Votto has a respectful .508 SLG, and Choo with a much different .484 SLG. These are still good averages, which explains their high productive performance.

 

The averages are close together, but SLG and OBP deviate a lot from player to player. Look at Domonic Brown, who has a .596 SLG but a .329 OBP. I still think that OPS is not a good stat to look at, but it can be beneficial in a way. 

Other sabermetric stats, such as wOBA (I’ll write about this next week) use linear weights to avoid OPS flaws. The OPS for all MLB is around .750. Here’s a good scale for it:

A	Great	.9000 and Higher
B	Very Good	.8333 to .8999
C	Above Average	.7667 to .8333
D	Average	.7000 to .7666
E	Below Average	.6334 to .6999
F	Poor	.5667 to .6333
G	Atrocious	.5666 and Lower

Babe Ruth has the highest OPS with 1.1638, but Albert Pujols has the highest among active players with 1.0264. Check out OPS+ too, it’s basically OPS X 100. 

That’s it for OPS. Believe it, or hate it. Any questions, comments, or concerns? Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com.

-Evan Boyd

“Baseball keeps copious records, and people talk about them and argue about them and think about them a great deal.  Why doesn't anybody use them?  Why doesn’t anybody say, in the face of this contention or that one, "Prove it?" – Michael Lewis quoting Bill James.