Sabermetric Alley: What Is wOBA?

Don't be scared by the title of this piece. This is going to be painless and straightforward. I'll lay out what wOBA is and why it matters.

* Note: We also have a primer set up for you to view when it comes to sabermetric categories.

WHAT IS wOBA?

We love our acronym's and measures that are so hard to figure out that if you don't have a degree from MIT you feel totally lost. That's likely where many of you are with wOBA. Let me simplify things with a few bullet points to clarify the measure.

(1) Yes, it really is written wOBA. Why? It's all about the name - Weighted On-Base Average. 

(2) It was created by Tom Tango. It is based around an older idea created by Pete Palmer called Linear Weights (Linear Weights was the precursor to WAR - an attempt to rank all players, regardless of skill or position played, on the same continuum). Each even on the field is given a value and the individual events are combined to get one measurement. 

(3) wOBA attempts to quantify the value of hits much the same way that OPS does. It "weights" the aspects of the offensive game in a way that is relative to the actual run value of the event (i.e. a homer is worth more than double the value of a single). In this respect wOBA is more accurate than OPS since OPS gives slightly more value for hitting for extra bases than it does for getting on base. 

HOW DO YOU FIGURE OUT wOBA?

wOBA is figured out on the same scale as regular on-base percentage. That means if you understand the value assigned to OBP you will understand how to read wOBA. Here is a table from Rotographs to explain (for a link to that article see the end of this piece).

You already understand OBP so wOBA doesn't require you learning a new format/number setup (if you want to figure out how to calculate wOBA there are links at the bottom of this article). 

WHY DOES wOBA MATTER?

wOBA is easily understood.
wOBA is more accurate that OPS.
wOBA may have been invented before Babe Ruth played.

We will regularly be referring to wOBA in our DFS MLB Playbook Pro to help you break down the daily matchups. By the by, look for the DFS MLB Playbook Pro to come on full force next week.

So there it is. Simple, straightforward, uncomplicated. Right? Don't be afraid of wOBA the next time you see it mentioned... you got this.

If you want to get even more detail on how to figure out wOBA, if you want to get out your abacus, The Hardball Times and Fangraphs can help you out.