Baseball statistics

Because the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and player activity is characteristically distinguishable individually, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and compiling statistics.

However, the recent advent of sabermetrics has created statistics drawing from a greater breadth of player performance measures and playing field variables.

The publication of Total Baseball led to the discovery of several "phantom ballplayers", such as Lou Proctor, who did not belong in official record books and were removed.

General managers and baseball scouts have long used the major statistics, among other factors and opinions, to understand player value.

Managers, catchers and pitchers use the statistics of batters of opposing teams to develop pitching strategies and set defensive positioning on the field.

Some sabermetric statistics have entered the mainstream baseball world that measure a batter's overall performance including on-base plus slugging, commonly referred to as OPS.

[citation needed] The following listings include abbreviations and/or acronyms for both historic baseball statistics and those based on modern mathematical formulas known popularly as "metrics".

It is difficult to determine quantitatively what is considered to be a "good" value in a certain statistical category, and qualitative assessments may lead to arguments.