There are many advanced metrics now used in baseball circles that some fans may be unfamiliar with. Seattle Sports 710 host Mike Salk believes some of those stats no longer need explanations.
While chatting with Jason Benetti, the FOX Sports and Detroit Tigers television voice Wednesday, Salk asked how Benetti handles certain statistics and whether or not the average fan understands what they are without further discussions.
“When you’re talking about baseball savant and some of these more complicated stats, I would assume — most of the time — you use them or reference them, you explain what that is, right?” Salk asked of Benetti. “If you were to say WRC+ on the broadcast that you would explain that quickly?
“Yeah. I try to make it as simple enough to be effective while not overwhelming people,” Benetti replied.
“But if you were to reference batting average, you hopefully don’t explain what that is,” said Salk. “You just let that go … Where are you with OPS? Does OPS need to be explained?”
When Benetti — widely regarded as one of the best baseball announcers in the business — responded that in his estimation, yes, the average viewer still might not understand OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging), and added that he believes sharing the league average is still an important part of that discussion.
“You don’t need to. I would reject the word ‘need’, but there is value in somebody learning it for the first time, always,” said Benetti.
“That said, it gets cumbersome. And I don’t do it all the time. I don’t. But if I’m in a deeper conversation about OPS+, absolutely. I don’t think people tune in to want to learn.”
“OPS has been on the television screen for 20 years during every game. At some point, isn’t it like batting average where you don’t have to explain it? And if you don’t understand it still, do you still get to comment? Or maybe you haven’t done enough thinking or observing or watching to have a take on what you’re seeing on a baseball field,” Salk said.
“You’re one of those guys who thinks ‘You should have to take a quiz in order to do blank’ guys,” Benetti responded.
“No, just the very basics,” Salk said, with a chuckle.
