Friday, July 29, 2011

Average Averages

When crunching numbers, you need to know the average. If you just landed on earth from a galaxy far, far away, and the first human you saw was Yao Ming, you may not have a good reference for the average height of a human.

If the first house you see is owned by Tom Hicks, that may confuse your idea of what a house looks like.

And the same is true when looking at baseball statistics. Most people know that hitting .300 is great, hitting .200 is awful, and hitting .400 is the eternal dream. But, what means better-than-average?

Well, here are the league averages for 4 important stats. 2011 stats are through July 28, 2011.


2011ERAAVGOBPSLG
MLB3.86.253.320.392
AL3.92.256.322.399
NL3.80.251.318.386

Table Tutorial




2010ERAAVGOBPSLG
MLB4.07.257.325.403
AL4.14.260.327.407
NL4.02.255.324.399

Table Tutorial




2009ERAAVGOBPSLG
MLB4.31.262.333.418
AL4.45.267.336.428
NL4.19.259.331.409

Table Tutorial



2008ERAAVGOBPSLG
MLB4.32.264.333.416
AL4.35.268.336.420
NL4.29.260.331.413

Table Tutorial



So, the major league average in 2011 (to date) for batting average is .253-
The league average for on base percentage was .320-
And, the league average for slugging percentage was .392-
That would make the league average OPS (OBP + Slugging) .712
And the league average in 2011 for ERA is 3.86 - the lowest it has been since 1992!

2011: .253/.320/.392 3.86
2010: .257/.325/.403 4.07
2009: .262/.333/,418 4.31
2008: .264/.333/.416 4.32
2007: .268/.336/.423 4.46
2006: .269/.337/.432 4.52
2005: .264/.330/.419 4.28
2004: .266/.335/.428 4.46
2003: .264/.333/.422 4.39
2002: .261/.331/.417 4.27
2001: .264/.332/.427 4.41
2000: .270/.345/.437 4.76
1999: .271/.345/.434 4.70
1998: .266/.335/.420 4.42
1997: .267/.337/.419 4.38
1996: .270/.340/.427 4.60
1995: .267/.338/.417 4.45
1994: .270/.339/.424 4.50
1993: .265/.332/.403 4.18
1992: .256/.322/.377 3.74

So, hopefully, this will help you the next time you examine someone's stats.

1 comment:

For The Love of Sports said...

Curious how the league median statistics (era, avg, etc...) look. Because if you took ten people and one of them was yao ming or tom hicks the average height or house price would look very different than the median. Just a thought.