The purpose of this glossary is to simply define and give context to some of the commonly used metrics that have become part of baseball’s everyday vernacular.
WAR — Wins above replacement. Ostensibly, this measures a player’s worth in terms of how many wins he is worth compared to a player who would replace him (a readily available minor leaguer or bench player). It is significant to note that playing time figures into a player’s WAR. The formulas are complicated only because they involve a half-dozen somewhat intricately figured statistics.
Fortunately, sites like baseball-reference and FanGraphs do the calculations for us.
A player with 6+ WAR = MLB Candidate
5-6 = Superstar
4-5 = All-star caliber
3-4 = Above average
2-3 Solid starter
1-2 Role player
Sub-1 Utility
In 2019, the last full MLB season, 451 position players had at least 100 plate appearances. Of those, 131 had a WAR of 2.0 or higher. Among the 690 position players who appeared in the majors, 559 (81 percent) had a WAR below 2.0 and 465 (67 percent) had a WAR below 1.0.
Of the 106 starting pitchers who threw at least 80 innings in 2019, 62 had a WAR of 2.0 or higher. Of the 217 relievers who threw at least 30 innings, just 20 had a WAR of 2.0 or higher. Among the 831 pitchers who appeared in the majors, 743 (89 percent) had a WAR below 2.0 and 656 (79 percent) had a WAR below 1.0.
A player’s WAR can vary widely depending on playing time and performance. Manny Machado had a WAR of 7.5 and 7.3, respectively, in 2015 and ’16. Both years, he finished in the top 5 in MVP voting. He likely would have had a WAR above 8 over a full 162 games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He had a 5.9 WAR in 2013, and six seasons in which his WAR was between 2.2 and 3.8.
Defensive runs saved – A metric that strives to measure how many runs a defender prevents. It not only takes into account errors, arm and double-play ability but range by measuring where balls are fielded and assessing what usually happens on ball hit to that spot. It is, thus, specific to each position.
A player with 3 DRS is three runs better than the average player at his position.
A player with 15 DRS = Gold Glove caliber
10 DRS = Excellent
5 DRS = Above average
0 DRS = Average
-5 DRS =Below average
-10 = Terrible
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