MLB Power Rankings: Saves and the Seven Most Overrated Stats in Baseball
For starters, everyone usually looks at the popular stats, such as home runs, RBI, batting average, ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and wins and losses.
Well, for the following stats, you can say "overrated."
A few may be just as popular as those listed above, but their impact is nowhere near the same level.
So, without further ado, here are baseball's seven most overrated stats.
Saves
1 of 7
To record a save, the most a closer will have to work is three innings, which is a rare occasion.
Also, they only have to get credit for pitching one-third of an inning!
That's only one out!
Talk about easy.
The overall conditions are sort of confusing to the fair-weather baseball fan, but it's safe to say recording a "save" is quite easy.
Fielding Percentage
2 of 7
These guys are all professionals, so everyone is going to have a fielding percentage in the 90-plus percent range.
So what's the point of even paying attention to it when everyone in the field will be in the same boat?
They don't screw up more often than not because they are professionals and that's their job.
Therefore, there's no reason to put it in a stat that is irrelevant.
It'd be totally different if obtaining a fielding percentage above 90 percent was difficult.
Individual Runs Scored
3 of 7
The only runs-scored stat that matters is the team's cumulative score at the end of each game.
Whoever scored isn't so much important as opposed to who drove him in or who gave up the runs.
Unless a guy blasts into a catcher at the plate or an inside-the-park HR occurs, all that matters is that the guys on base get around.
It doesn't matter which player it is—plus, how many people go looking at the runs-scored stat?
Let's face it, it's not nearly as popular as those who score in football or basketball.
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Holds
4 of 7
To begin, the criteria to get credited with a "hold" is really confusing and long.
The specific situation does happen, but who cares what happens as long as your team's pitcher doesn't allow any additional runs?
Also, as long as the reliever can consistently get out of a jam, then that's all that should matter.
It's not even an official statistic, which is why it shouldn't be listed on sites that provide you with stats, but there it is.
Triples
5 of 7
They're definitely exciting and more rare than any other hit, so they are definitely not under-appreciated.
However, the stat itself is another thing.
Once a runner gets on second base, he's into scoring position, so a triple almost seems redundant, aside from the fact that it just makes scoring easier.
The only time a triple truly matters in a game is when a player has a HR, single and double, because everyone likes to see the cycle completed.
Other than that, looking up "who's got the most triples" or "who hit a triple in yesterday's game" are nowhere near as trendy.
Pitch Count
6 of 7
Back in the day, pitchers would throw back-to-back complete games in a double-header.
The limit of 100 pitches was never considered.
Now, granted, the game has changed, but this whole 100-pitch count thing has gotten a little out of control.
Just let pitchers go (regardless of pitch count) until the manager sees fit in terms of the game situation.
Obviously, if he's getting hammered, take him out, but if he's over 100 after five or six innings and doing well, who cares—let him get through at least seven.
Then you save your bullpen that much more.
Errors
7 of 7
In relation to the aforementioned fielding percentage, errors do happen.
However, despite the fact that these guys are pros, they are humans.
Thus, the human error component.
No one is perfect, but for as outstanding as these guys are in the field and for all the web gems they provide, an error or two every so often is acceptable.
Not to mention the ball is coming at them over 100 miles per hour, so expecting someone to react in less than one-third of a nanosecond is a bit harsh.
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