Batting average of Balls in Play = BABIP
My 2 cents is that this is a good sign of how lucky a pitcher might be....especially the more innings that he gets by with a low number.
Haven't you been to a ballgame, and said, "Damn, right at the 3rd baseman"! Or, "If that line drive would would have been a foot left or a foot right of the 2d baseman....it would have been a double play". Or, " Darn that was a Texas league single.....shit."
These situations EVEN out in the long run....law of averages.
So, I do think a low BABIP is a good tool.
BTY, What is FIP bodio.....thanks.
OK Jules, I hear what you are saying; but, even extreme ground ball pitchers have days where those "batted baseballs" go through the holes MORE than they should. So, if they have a high BABIP, expect a correction, and therefore a good outing next time out.
If you think about where a ball contacts a bat....only a fraction of an inch will make the difference between a hit or an out.
Or, I could be totally wrong.
But, the bestseller BASEBALL PROSPECTUS considers this an important factor in considering how a pitcher did from one year to the next.
Consider what they said about Josh Fogg of the Rockies.....""Despite the respectable ERA (of 3.74 in 2009), .....his run prevention numbers are built on the quicksand foundation of a league-low BABIP (.198).
Or, "Galarraga's fall from grace (in 2009) was one of the easiest and most widespread predictions made last spring, all based on his ridiculously low BABIP in 2008 (.236)."
BTY, this is a great book that is put out every year!
Established in 1995,
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