I'm admittedly an old-timer baseball fan

[Pepe]

As such, I'm not very much up on the new analytics approach. Can someone give me a detailed description of how the WAR is calculated?

 

[zjcvols]

Talking Chop Baseball Analysis Primer: WAR

Also this is a good website to go too. The Glossary | FanGraphs Baseball

 

[zjcvols]

WAR is pretty complex but basically the gist of it is you take all three aspects of hitting, fielding, and running and try to put it in one single number for how much a player is worth or what value they contribute. There’s about a 1,000 Wins (also what you can call WAR) available

There are currently 1,000 WAR per season based on a replacement level of a .294 winning percentage. Of those 1,000, 570 WAR are allocated to position players and 430 WAR are allocated to pitchers. You can learn more about the split here.

For hitters: WAR = (Batting Runs + Base Running Runs +Fielding Runs + Positional Adjustment + League Adjustment +Replacement Runs) / (Runs Per Win)

For pitchers= ● Pitchers – While position player WAR is based on Batting Runs and Fielding Runs, pitching WAR uses FIP (with infield fly balls), adjusted for park, and scaled to how many innings the pitcher threw. FIP is translated into runs, converted to represent value above replacement level, and is then converted from runs to wins. This is a slightly more complicated process than for position players, so you should click over to the pitcher WAR page if you want the details.

 

[Pepe]

WAR is pretty complex but basically the gist of it is you take all three aspects of hitting, fielding, and running and try to put it in one single number for how much a player is worth or what value they contribute. There’s about a 1,000 Wins (also what you can call WAR) available

There are currently 1,000 WAR per season based on a replacement level of a .294 winning percentage. Of those 1,000, 570 WAR are allocated to position players and 430 WAR are allocated to pitchers. You can learn more about the split here.

For hitters: WAR = (Batting Runs + Base Running Runs +Fielding Runs + Positional Adjustment + League Adjustment +Replacement Runs) / (Runs Per Win)

For pitchers= ● Pitchers – While position player WAR is based on Batting Runs and Fielding Runs, pitching WAR uses FIP (with infield fly balls), adjusted for park, and scaled to how many innings the pitcher threw. FIP is translated into runs, converted to represent value above replacement level, and is then converted from runs to wins. This is a slightly more complicated process than for position players, so you should click over to the pitcher WAR page if you want the details.

Thank you

 

[GAVol]

I question the defensive metrics, but WAR is a little like an NFL QB rating. Nobody can quite explain it, but there's no doubt that it's got validity.

 

[Kingston Vol]

I question the defensive metrics, but WAR is a little like an NFL QB rating. Nobody can quite explain it, but there's no doubt that it's got validity.

Now that they’ve added pitch framing to it, the whole thing is really wonky for catchers.

 

[zjcvols]

Now that they’ve added pitch framing to it, the whole thing is really wonky for catchers.

Yeah, I buy framing as a legitimate thing, but I don’t quite but the value as a thing. It’s not really an excited the top framers usually are on a good pitching staff too.

 

[Pepe]

I question the defensive metrics, but WAR is a little like an NFL QB rating. Nobody can quite explain it, but there's no doubt that it's got validity.

Yes, for fans citing WAR statistics or QB ratings statistics, either one is kind of a conversation stopper. Without a computer in hand you can't really argue the statistics.