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Glossary of Fantasy Baseball Important Terms

We consider these fantasy baseball important terms to be the most vital statistics when doing your daily research. Statistics such as ERA, WHIP, and BA have their own merit, but these are the statistics that truly tell the entire story of a player’s production. Click on each statistic to be directed to FanGraphs’ glossary for full definitions. Each statistic has its own meaning and importance when weighed against the others. For the purpose of easy understanding, we have simplified FanGraphs’ definitions while retaining the integrity of the of the statistic. Our goal is to acclimate all our readers with these fantasy baseball important terms, which will ultimately lead to more success in daily fantasy baseball contests.

FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching)

This stat attempts to measure what a pitcher’s ERA should have been based on the things they have the most control over, walks, strikeouts, hit by pitches, and homers. Its goal is to credit the pitcher for what they’ve done and not what their fielders have or haven’t done on batted balls. It is a much better tool for predicting future performance than ERA. xFIP is a variation of FIP that goes further by neutralizing HR/FB to the league average.

wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus)

This is a statistic that attempts to roll a player’s offensive value into one number to determine how many runs they’ve created. A 100 wRC+ represents league average, and every point above that is one percent above league average, and every point below represents a percentage point below league average. FanGraphs notes that the stat is park and league adjusted, thus, putting all players on an even playing field regardless of their offensive environment.

wOBA (Weighted On-Base Average)

This is another offensive stat that attempts to roll offensive performance into one number. It assigns a different weight to different types of hits and different means of reaching base since they are not all created equal. Unlike with wRC+, the league-average varies year-by-year so FanGraphs has a rough approximation of how to value various wOBA scores, for instance 0.400 is deemed excellent, and .290 is awful. The full chart can be seen here.

ISO (Isolated Power)

This statistic measures power by subtracting batting average from slugging percentage. Therefore it strips singles from slugging percentage leaving a number that represents extra bases divided by at-bats.

 

Abbreviations Meaning Abbreviations Meaning
LHB Left-handed batter(s) FB Flyball
RHP Right-handed batter(s) LD Line drive
LHP Left-handed pitcher(s) IFFB Infield Flyball
RHP Right-handed pitcher(s) R Run(s)
IP Inning(s) pitched 1B Single(s)
K Strikeout 2B Double(s)
BB Walk 3B Triple(s)
LoB Left on-base HR Home run(s)
PA Plate appearance(s) SB Stolen base(s)
GB Groundball