What Is the FanGraphs Library, and How Do I Use It?

After Dave Cameron’s introduction yesterday, I wanted to take a brief minute to explain the purpose and goal of the Library for those that haven’t seen it before. And before I begin, thanks to everyone for the kind words yesterday about the Library.

The Saber Library was initially created around a year ago, in response to some criticism we’d received at DRaysBay. Many (most) of our columns there deal with advanced stats, like the work done here on FanGraphs, yet many readers were having a tough time accessing the information and learning about sabermetrics. We’d tried running a saber primer or two, yet those could never be comprehensive enough to cover everything that needed to be said. Readers wanted to learn, but didn’t have a place to go to do so.

And so, being naive and stupid, I decided to spend the time putting together a comprehensive learning resource where saber newbies could learn practical knowledge about the statistics and concepts that undergird sabermetrics. It was an ambitious project, but I received help from a couple of my fellow writers at DRaysBay and input from living legend Graham MacAree. I made the pages easily linkable, so writers wouldn’t need to re-explain a statistic every time they used it in an article, but could link to the Library and direct their readers there for more information (like, say, wOBA).

FanGraphs has long needed an updated glossary, so moving the Library here was a no-brainer. I made a number of changes when moving it over – updating content, adding percentile charts, and incorporating more content from elsewhere in the saber-sphere – but its general purpose is still the same: the FanGraphs Library is meant to be used as a learning tool. I provide a concise description of every statistic, document the most important facts to know about each stat, and link to resources to expand your knowledge even further. I hope to continue expanding the Library in the future, and to update pages continuously as need be.

Some links may have gone on the fritz as we transferred everything, but all old links to the Library should still work. The old saberlibrary.com address is now being redirected to the new site, so if you are a writer and want to continue (or start) linking to the Library in your articles, you can still use our old URLs to make it easier for you. I think they’re pretty intuitive, but you can decide for yourself:

wOBA
FIP
UZR
WAR

You can access the FanGraphs Library by clicking on the “Glossary” button above. When you arrive at the Library main page, you’ll see the biggest new feature of the site: a blog! I’ll be writing content over at the FanGraphs Library page, focusing primarily on saber education. I plan to highlight work done around the saber-sphere (so pass along any links if you find something good), while also writing original pieces geared toward helping people understand sabermetrics better. It’s a new space and I want the content to best help you readers, so please send me feedback along the way.

In short, if you want to learn about sabermetrics, make your articles more accessible for new readers, or teach a friend why batting average isn’t the be-all-end-all, come check out the FanGraphs Library. No Dewey Decimal system required.