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LEANing Into It: What We Talk About When We Talk About OBP

Frank Robinson, Craig Biggio, Chase Utley, Jason Kendall, Ron Hunt.

From the legends of lean listed above you have probably figured out we’re going to be talking about HBP. We’re going to look for the titans of getting beaned using two new Pseudometrics, hbpOBP and LEAN.

As your local stat nerd will tell you, on base percentage is one of the key components to assessing the value of a hitter. The more a player is on base the more likely they are to score. As I’m sure you are well aware, the formula for on base percentage is:

$OBP=\frac{H+BB+HBP}{AB+BB+HBP+SF}$

We usually focus on walks and hits when thinking about OBP, and rightly so. For most players, walks and hits account for most of their OBP. However, there are a select few for whom the third component, hit by pitch, is a significant factor. A batter willing and able to get hit a dozen or more times a year will be rewarded with a few more points of OBP. How much more, for that we will have to take a look at hbpOBP.