FantasyPros has put together a glossary of sabermetrics statistics for readers to reference. Deeper statistical analysis is being used by fantasy players more and more in daily and season-long leagues. We’re providing the glossary so that you can easily reference what the stats we use in our articles refer to and how they should be used for fantasy baseball purposes. Below we’ll take a look at wRC+.
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wRC+ (weighted runs created plus) is a stat that uniquely analyzes a MLB player’s overall effectiveness as a hitter, while adjusting for the effects of the parks and league he plays in.
This stat originated from the weighted runs created (wRC) statistic, which is a more refined version of Bill James’ runs created (RC) statistic that attempted to weigh a player’s total offensive value and measure it by runs. In RC, instead of looking at a player’s line and listing out all the numbers that follow (for example, 32 doubles, 4 triples, 18 home runs; 30 stolen bases), the information is arranged into one metric in order to say, ‘Player X was worth 38 runs to his team last season.’ While the idea was soundly constructed, James’ formula has since been superseded by Tom Tango’s wRC.
Similar to OPS+ (on-base-plus-slugging plus), weighted runs created plus (wRC+) measures how a player’s wRC compares with the league average. League average wRC+ is 100 and every point above (or below) 100 is a percentage point above (or below) the league average. For example, a 150 wRC+ means a player created 50 percent more runs than the league average.
Also, wRC+ is park- and league-adjusted, allowing one to compare players who played in different years, leagues and parks. For example, it can be your go-to statistic if you wanted to know how Willie Mays compared to Mike Trout in terms of overall offensive effectiveness. For fantasy baseball purposes it is best used in comparing players in preparation of your draft.
CD Hill is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from CD, check out his archive.
