On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) Records and Details
What is On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) ?
On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) is a metric used to quantify a players hitting power and ability to get on base. It's caluclated by summing the slugging percentage and on base percentage for a player or team over a given time period. Generally, for On Base Plus Slugging (OPS), higher is better. (Source)
What is a good On Base Plus Slugging (OPS)?
What does good On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) mean? "Good" baseball stats can be very subjective and mean different things to different people.
I have attempted to quantify good and bad by taking season and career stats for MLB position players (not pitchers) with a minimum number
of plate appearances. In this case 150 for career and 75 for a season. To find good and bad within this cohort of players I calculated the first and third quartiles,
anything between these quartiles I consider average. This makes up the middle 50% of players. In an example
where higher is better for a stat, below the first quartile (bottom 25% of players) would be bad and above the 3rd
quartile (top 25% of players) would be good. For stats where lower is better, flip around good and bad.
Career, Season, and Season Average On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) Records
For my hot take on On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) records most of the same rules apply from the first section. To be considered for my
prestigious lists the player must meet a certain threshold of plate appearances. Since this is a Hitting stat to be considered
for the career list the player must have over 150 plate appearances, for a season consideration the player must have
had 75 plate appearances. Additionally, the player's final game must have been after 1899.