Calculate Major Pitching Statistics in Baseball

Pitcher Tim Wakefield in action.

ERA, WHIP, DICE are all acronyms that make some people nervous, but true baseball fans should know them. They often seem difficult to calculate as well, but this article will prove that that is not necessarily true.

[edit]ERA (Earned Run Average)

ERA^[1] is one of the basic stats to determine the talent of a pitcher, and it is often very good to use. Lower ERA's are considered better, and the current average ERA in Major League Baseball is around 4.50.

Take any pitcher and calculate how many earned runs (ER) the pitcher gave up (these can be different from regular runs given up; most places with pitching statistics will show both) and how many innings he has pitched.
Divide his earned runs by his innings pitched.
Multiply the resulting number by nine to find the pitcher's ERA.

Example: Joe Random gave up 4 runs in 10 innings. 4/10= .4 and .4 multiplied by 9 is 3.60. Therefore, Joe Random's ERA is 3.60

[edit]Save (SV)

A save occurs only when a pitcher meets certain conditions in a game. Saves are normally recorded by closers, but can be recorded by any pitcher. All of the following steps are required conditions for a pitcher to record a save.^[2]

Note: A Blown Save occurs when a pitcher has a save opportunity but relinquishes the lead.

Make sure that the pitcher was the last pitcher in a game in which his team won.
Make sure that he is not the pitcher who recorded the win in the game.
Make sure that he pitched at least 1/3 of an inning (got at least one batter out).
Make sure that the pitcher fulfills one of the following three conditions:
- He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning.
- He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning.
- He pitches for at least three innings.

[edit]DICE (Defense Independent Component ERA)

DICE is a recently developed stat^[3] that is widely used by sabrmetricians. Sabrmetricians are people who prefer to use sabrmetric stats, which are typically more complicated stats intended to be less subjective, but many people consider them to be confusing.

Calculate the pitcher's home runs allowed, strikeouts (K), innings pitched (IP), walks allowed (BB), and hit batters (HB, HBP, abbreviations vary).
Use the slightly complicated formula to determine a pitcher's DICE:

[edit]WHIP (Walks and Hits Per Inning Pitched)

WHIP^[4] is intended to provide info on how many batters get on base per inning that a certain pitcher is pitching.

Find the pitcher's walks allowed (BB), hits allowed (H, not to be confused with Holds, also abbreviated H), and innings pitched (IP).
Add walks and hits together.
Divide the result of the previous step by the pitcher's innings pitched.

[edit]Tips

There are tons of other pitching statistics, such as Wins, Losses, Holds, Strikeouts per Nine Innings Pitcher (K/9), and Complete Games, to name a few.
Dabble in with sabrmetric stats and regular stats. It will help back up stat-based arguments.
If you are really into baseball stats, consider joining SABR^[5], the Society for American Baseball Research