openWAR: An Open Source System for Evaluating Overall Player Performance in Major League Baseball
Abstract
Within baseball analytics, there is substantial interest in comprehensive statistics intended to capture overall player performance. One such measure is Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which aggregates the contributions of a player in each facet of the game: hitting, pitching, baserunning, and fielding. However, current versions of WAR depend upon proprietary data, ad hoc methodology, and opaque calculations. We propose a competitive aggregate measure, openWAR, that is based upon public data and methodology with greater rigor and transparency. We discuss a principled standard for the nebulous concept of a "replacement" player. Finally, we use simulation-based techniques to provide interval estimates for our openWAR measure.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1312.7158,
title = {openWAR: An Open Source System for Evaluating Overall Player Performance in Major League Baseball},
author = {Benjamin S. Baumer and Shane T. Jensen and Gregory J. Matthews},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.7158},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
27 pages including supplement