two WAR questions

[Crash2303]

Is a pitcher's hitting ability factored into pitching WAR? if not, what is a statistic that factors that value?

 

Also, i was a little confused when reading about how WAR is computed for offense. from my understanding it said it was based on wRAA, which said it was a counting statistic not an average. so does that mean that WAR is commonly increased if a player plays more? if so, how could it be computed differently for players with not many plate appearances?

[cwolf2012]

"Is a pitcher's hitting ability factored into pitching WAR? if not, what is a statistic that factors that value?"

 

It is not. It is only pitching value. You can, however, head over to the team hitting page to get the pitcher's hitting WAR.

 

"so does that mean that WAR is commonly increased if a player plays more?"

 

It is a counting stat. You are correct.

 

"if so, how could it be computed differently for players with not many plate appearances? "

 

You can just divide the WAR number by plate appearances, or do something like WAR/600 PA to get a yearly expected value.

[logan82]

from my understanding it said it was based on wRAA, which said it was a counting statistic not an average.

 

Fangraphs WAR is based on wOBA.

 

so does that mean that WAR is commonly increased if a player plays more?

 

If the player is a positive hitter it increases. For players like Kotsay, Counsell and Betancourt it goes further into the negatives the more they play.

 

if so, how could it be computed differently for players with not many plate appearances?

 

Just use wOBA.

[cwolf2012]

wRAA is computed via wOBA, which is then used to calculate RAR. WAR is essentially (not exactly, but close enough) RAR/10.

 

If you want a good general stat to measure a hitter's overall effectiveness, wOBA is about the best out there now.