WHAT DOES MLB'S FWAR MEAN? Wins Above Replacement Explained

This channel, Simple Sabermetrics, is all about explaining the latest advancements in today’s game. We focus a lot on the player development strategies going on behind the scenes – but what about what sabermetrics really are? Today we take a dive into one of the most prominent sabermetric stats out there, fWAR (or Fangraph's wins above replacement). Check it out!

Further Reading:

Other Videos:

Socials:
Twitter: @SimpleSaberBSB
Instagram: @jstone30113

Suggested Reading:

[saurondp]

Good explanation, but that last bit about WAR giving a GENERAL idea of a player's overall value should be emphasized. I see way too many baseball fans now throwing around WAR like its a precise stat, which it is NOT (ie. Player A with 5.4 WAR is NOT necessarily better than Player B with 5.9 WAR). And kudos for mentioning the relief pitcher dilemma too.

[brizotfrizot]

Stumbling across this video in my recommended videos is the best thing that could've happened to me today. Thank you

[chefgeb]

Thank you so much for this, finally have an idea of what WAR is all about!

[jonasirw]

Awesome..now I finally understand WAR and b/c the music in your video, you forced me out of my house and off to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

[bobsaget]

Recently started getting into baseball over the past year. Never understood the WAR stat, this helped a bunch!

[KyleRice]

Interesting on the explanation of WAR since it is calculated differently baesd on what website you ask.

[danbetreen]

Great videos, great explanations and certainly helpful even as a person involved with an organization. Another few helpful ones to cover would be wRC and wRC+ and any of the other weighted statistics that determine a player’s value!

[joedunphy]

Would have been great to breakdown the formula’s components further. I have no idea what fielding runs are for example. How is that figure derived

[AJsaurus]

So it’s basically +/- like in basketball

[bobconrad]

The problem I have with WAR is that (beside from the fact that the ordinary fan cannot calculate it) no one is able to explain why one player's WAR differs from another's. It seems to me if you are going to use this stat for comparison purposes you should be able to explain the differences.

[abnerberigueteramire]

I read for baseball reference that the replacement player is not a bench player, is a player that is playing every game of the season.

[raymondmurphy]

how do they decide who a “replacement level player” is and are all players at a given position being compared to the same “replacement level player” or is it an average of stats from several “position level players”

[crossandshoot]

Thoughts on how to calculate war for a two way player?

[thomash.l.]

I was waiting for a, "what is it good for?" joke.

[pushingthrottles]

Just discovered your channel. I'm going to have to "retro- watch" all of your sabermetrics explained videos because the topic is so damn tough to understand yet baseball has migrated towards analytical decision making. I'm a baseball purist but I also am adaptable so it's time to learn. I'm looking to your channel for a complete and comprehensive curriculum.

[samuelstewart]

Why isn’t there a variable in the pitcher calculation that accounts for the differences in starters/relievers that would allow for similar comparison of WAR?

[grahambutterfield]

love the content! it is so helpful! Can you do a video about FIP or wBOA

[LaleMackus]

Great vid. A video about FIP or OAA would be interesting

[juggernaut]

Hey! Thanks for the video! I am playing Fantasy Baseball for the second year now and lets just say I used to play before FIBs and WARs even were around (OLD SCHOOL?). So I am used to evaluating players by watching them, but who has time for that?! This is the first video of yours I am watching and the first one that I havent needed a degree to understand lol. I'll check out your channel for Fantasy Baseball equations in a bit to better/quickly evaluate the value of players to pick up. Thanks for the flip book version thus far!

[JeffBakerUSA]

@SimpleSabermetrics -
Great video, but one thing it does not address clearly is how WAR scores accumulate over the course of a player's career.
I'm guessing that if Cody Bellinger sustained his WAR of 9 every year for 10 seasons he'd have a total WAR of 90, correct? I ask this because I just saw a list of the top historic WAR players for each MLB team, and was amazed to see that Hank Aaron was listed for the Braves with a total WAR of 143 and Ty Cobb was listed for Detroit with a total WAR of 145.