Offense by Steve Slowinski February 15, 2010 Traditional statistics have their place, but things like batting average and RBI largely function as descriptions of what occurred rather than any sort of measure of player value or performance. Batting average tells you how many hits a player had per at bat, but does that really tell you very much about that player’s season? Or better yet, does it really tell you what you want to know about that player’s season? In short, no. At FanGraphs, we host plenty of traditional statistics, but we focus on more useful measures of performance such wOBA, wRC+, and wRAA. Check out those statistics and read some of the links below if you want to get a better sense of how to measure offensive performance. And feel free to post comments and ask questions as well. Links for Further Reading: Complete List of Offensive Statistics – FanGraphs Sabermetrics 101: Offense – Lookout Landing How To Evaluate a Hitter, Sabermetrically -Beyond The Box Score wOBA as a Gateway Statistic – FanGraphs wRC+ and Lessons of Context – FanGraphs Learning to Speak Saber: Runs and Wins – FanGraphs An Early Look at HITf/x – Hardball Times Using HITf/x to Measure Skill – Hardball Times HitTracker: How Far It Really Went