Paul DePodesta talks a lot about the importance of on-base percentage (OBP), a statistic that, in effect, measures a hitter’s chances of reaching base in any given at-bat through either getting a base hit or by drawing a walk (which occurs when a pitcher throws four balls and the batter is allowed to go to first base). The statistic of “batting average,” which measured how likely a player was to get a hit in a given at-bat, had long been a staple of baseball, and players with high batting averages were greatly prizes and highly paid. Yet batting average ignored walks, and little was thought of players who were able to draw walks. Almost no one even knew who those players were. In the way that it uncovered a hidden value – the fact that getting a walk to get on base can also help teams score runs – on-base percentage symbolizes the discipline of sabermetrics itself and the wealth of hidden talent, represented in obscure statistics, that baseball teams had up until 2002 largely ignored.
On-Base Percentage Symbol Timeline in Moneyball
