OBP in H2H 5x5

[DC_Commish]

How do people feel about using on-base percentage (OBP) instead of batting average in an otherwise standard, 5x5, head-to-head system? Some owners in my league have complained that walks are insufficiently valued in traditional 5x5 scoring, even though they increase the likelihood of runs scored.

A number of the league’s owners are relative novices who are very dependent on expert rankings and auction sheets they find on major websites (e.g., ESPN). While I always want to reward skill and more intensive research, do you think players who rely on such lists will be at a greater competitive disadvantage if we replace batting average with OBP?

Finally, how significantly will this change alter the value of players? My impression is that elite hitters, who are most likely to draw intentional walks, would become even more valuable under such a system. Generally, we do not prefer a top-heavy league, so expanding the gap between the studs and the regulars is not desirable.

Thanks for your advice.

EDIT: To be clear, besides batting average, the other nine categories in my league are R, HR, RBI, SB, W, SV, ERA, K, and WHIP.

[tms298]

We use OBP instead of AVG and have for the last 4-5 years. We all like it now. It takes a month or two to get used to. To see who it will impact the most, find an excel spreadsheet that has everyone's stats from last year. Create a new column to subtract OBP from BA and this will tell you who benefits most. You will find patient hitters increase in value- Abreu, Hafner, Dunn etc.

I now prefer OBP to AVG.

[sakka252]

Same here. We switched to OBP a few years ago for the same reasons you stated, and never looked back. It does a better job of valuing hitters. There are always a couple guys with ridiculous OBP, i.e. Bonds, D.Lee, but even still there is a pretty even spread. There is no well defined group at the top, and vise versa.

[Matthias]

That's a lot of questions.

Lessee.... it may increase the gap between the gap between the elite hitters and the other guys. Not because of intentional walks as much as unintentional intentional walks... basically, once a pitcher goes 3-1 to Ortiz with batters on, the pitch is going to catch the far edge of the stripe or be ball 4. More than widening the gap, however, it just created eddies, raising some players and lowering others. The classic example is Adam Dunn whose batting average is abysmal but whose OBP is rock star-ish. Another notable example from last year is Ryan Howard whose .268 AVG looks pretty mediocre but whose OBP of .392 is very good.

So in a league of guys who know what they're doing or are at least comfortable, OBP is a fine substitution for AVG. But if you have some novices in the league who you think are going to rely upon standard draft guides, I wouldn't do it. Maybe let them get comfortable for a year or two and then make the shift. But it's really unrealistic to expect them to do their own customized rankings and not a very fun introduction to have them get shown up on a setting that they don't get.

[DC_Commish]

Thanks for your advice, guys. If the fantasy novices were baseball fans who might not understand the difference between real value and fantasy value, I would probably make the switch to OBP. However, given that they are generic fantasy fans who know relatively little about baseball, and that they will probably use standard draft guides, I think I will stick to AVG for 2008 and try to switch to OBP in later seasons.

I really appreciate your input.