Like the Slugging Percentage for hitters, the WHIP in baseball is a measure of the pitcher’s effectiveness in keeping runners off the basepaths, which is the main goal for any pitcher during the game.
The WHIP is an acronym for Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched and calculates how many baserunners the pitcher accords in an innings. Achieving a low WHIP means pitchers must record as many outs as possible during the innings, whether by strike out, ground out or fly out.
To understand the WHIP, we will look at how to calculate it, what counts for and against the WHIP, and what is considered a good WHIP for a pitcher plus, we’ll look at the best WHIP pitchers of all time – so let’s get out there!
How To Calculate WHIP In Baseball
The WHIP calculation is fairly straightforward, and you take the total number of walks and hits and then you divide that figure by the total number of innings pitched in a season, and the equation would be : (Walks + Hits)/Innings Pitched.
Let’s use an example to illustrate the WHIP formula in action. Pitcher A has given up 90 hits and 45 walks and has pitched a total of 120 innings. Adding up the walks and hits would give you 135, then dividing by 120 would give you a WHIP of 1.125.
The stats for calculating WHIP for any MLB pitcher are freely available on websites, baseball cards, and fantasy leagues, so you can establish the WHIP for any pitcher you choose.
You should know that WHIP does not consider how the baserunner got to base, only that they did. For example, a hitter that hits a double has the same impact on WHIP as a hitter that walks, but a hit batter, a runner reaching on a fielder’s choice, or an error does not impact the WHIP.
What Is a Good WHIP In Baseball
As with baseball slugging percentage, WHIP measures poor, good, great, and elite. On average, the WHIP is around 1.30, while a good WHIP would be 1.10 or better, with the elite level at under 1.0, and a WHIP of 1.50 or more is considered poor.
If you have a pitcher that pitches 100 innings but only has a combined total of 90 for hits and walks, that will give you a WHIP of 0.9, which would be in the elite realm, while that same stat with 150 walks and hits over 100 innings would deliver a WHIP of 1.50.
Who Are The Top 10 WHIP Pitchers Of All Time
Considering the average WHIP in the MLB is around 1.30, the list below shows that there have been some incredible pitchers in the game’s history. The top 10 list is as follows :
- 10 – Trevor Hoffman – 1.05
- 9 – Christy Mathewson – 1.05
- 8 – Pedro Martinez – 1.05
- 7 – Jacob De Grom – 1.04
- 6 – John Montgomery Ward – 1.04
- 5 – Chris Sale – 1.03
- 4 – Clayton Kershaw – 1
- 3 – Mariano Riviera – 1
- 2 – Ed Walks – 0.99
- 1 – Addie Joss – 0.96
Considering the example above of 0.9, you can see how difficult it is to achieve a WHIP of 1.05 or lower.
The best WHIP in a season was achieved by Hall-Of-Famer Pedro Martinez ( no.3 on the top ten list), with an incredible WHIP of 0.737 achieved in the 2000 season! He pitched 217 innings and only conceded 32 walks and 128 hits!
The worst WHIP belonged to Phillies pitcher Les Sweetland, who logged a 1.982 WHIP along with a 7.71 ERA in the 1930 season, contributing to the worst WHIP by a team in MLB history.
Regarding team WHIPS, the 1908 White Sox averaged a 1.0248, just edging out the 1904 Boston Red Sox (Americans) by 0.001 of a point, with Ed Walsh pitching a 0.860 WHIP in that season. On the other end, the worst team WHIP was posted by the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies with a 1.868 season average.
WHIP Vs. ERA
These two stats fundamentally differ as ERA measures how many earned runs a pitcher gives up during total pitched innings or how many home runs the pitcher conceded to baserunners.
While unearned runs don’t count against the ERA stat, WHIP will come into play here, measuring the number of baserunners the pitcher gives up per innings pitched. Often these two stats are used together, and there is a correlation between them with a lower WHIP, often leading to a lower ERA as there are fewer base runners to score.
There is also strong evidence from the Lahmann Baseball Database that a strong WHIP is a greater and more accurate indicator of a winning team than ERA is. This is reinforced by the fact that regardless of the league, the winning team often has a WHIP in the top half.
Furthermore, of the 116 World Series winning teams, only nine have had WHIP percentages in the lower half of the league, and only ONE team in MLB history played the postseason with the highest WHIP, and that was the 1995 Colorado Rockies playing at the pitcher’s nightmare- Coors Field.
A Brief History Of WHIP
Unlike SLG, which dates back to 1867, WHIP was only created in 1979 by writer Daniel Okrent when he invented the rotisserie fantasy baseball league in the same year. Originally termed the Innings Pitched Ratio or IPRAT, the stat was intended to add a separate component that could assist with predicting results in the fantasy league.
WHIP is not an official stat in the MLB even today, but the metric gained such favor with writers and fantasy players that it became commonly accepted by 1990- so as stats go, the WHIP is a relatively new metric for the game.
Conclusion
Whether looking at a card or website, understanding what the WHIP means and how it is calculated brings you greater insight into the deeper meaning behind the stat as well as the quality and consistency of the pitcher.
Using WHIP will give you a good idea of whether the pitcher is en route to the Baseball Hall of Fame or on course for a soul-destroying season and whether you are looking at the next rising star in the game.
Title flagged as plagiarism