Fielding Independent Pitching Statistics (FIPS) - QMIND-Team/Sabermetrics GitHub Wiki

Formula: (13HR+3(HBP+BB)-2*K)/IP + constant A pitcher’s job is to serve the ball to a batter, providing them with a chance to hit it in play, once a ball is in play, the pitcher then has little control over the outcome. This means that a pitchers BABIP is weighing partially on luck. This has proven to not be an effective statistic for measuring the skill level/rank of a pitcher. A better way to evaluate a pitcher’s talent is to look at the results a pitcher can directly influence such as: strikeouts; walks; intentional walks; hit by pitches; and home runs. Fielding independent pitching statistics measures the independent performance of a pitcher’s defense, excluding all that is going on around him, taking out the role of fielders, luck and sequencing. Excluding these statistics will then allow for a much more accurate display of the pitcher’s performance and influence over the outcome of the game. FIPS is a measurement which does consider the amount of time (in innings) that the pitcher is performing. Breaking down the formula, HR represents home runs, HBP represents hit by pitches, BB is base on balls or also known as walks, K represents strikeouts, and IP represents the innings pitched. The constant at the end of the formula is present to bring the FIP onto an ERA scale, and will typically fall around the value 3.10 Though stats such as ERA and RA stats are great to determine the runs scored, they are inaccurate when it comes to evaluating the skills of a pitcher, because they rely on the defensive fielding and luck, where as FIPS cuts all external variables out and only considers variables which the pitcher has direct control over. FIPS uses these to determine how they contributed to Runs Allowed based statistics, as well as providing a baseline for predicting how a pitcher will independently perform in future matches. It was determined that FIPS is a better predictor of future performance than it is a predictor of the present. It is also not a league or park adjusted statistic, meaning that pitchers in a good park will consistently have a lower FIP (lower FIP indicates a better pitcher), and pitchers in time periods of low run scoring will also have a lower FIP rating.