Fantasy baseball measures individuals, so what stats are useful/not

[Godfather80]

I'll start with standard 5x5 stats and explain why some of them are pointless, given the premise that Fantasy Baseball measures individuals and not teams. If you disagree with that premise, feel free to respond, but I'm more interested in what people who agree with the premise think.

1. Runs: Terrible stat. The individual player rarely determines how many runs he scores, with the notable exception of homeruns. Teams, in fact, determine how many runs most players score. And, therefore, runs are a poor fantasy baseball stat. I suggest OBP as a substitute, since it measures the individual property that allows a player to score runs.

2. Home Runs Great individual stat. It can be argued that a good lineup allows a power hitter to see more pitches than he would see in a poor lineup. However, as long as walks are counted in some fashion (OBP), then a power hitter who doesn't see as many pitches still has good value provided he has good plate discipline.

3. RBI Terrible individual stat. It's more of a measure of how many RBI situations teams put a hitter into then the hitter's individual ability to "drive in runs". This stat, far more than home runs, is effected by the strength of team around the individual batter. I suggest slugging percentage as a substitute, as it measures the individuals ability to get extra base hits that would "drive in runs" if there were men on base.

4. Stolen Bases I'm of two minds about this stat. On the one hand, it is the only direct measure of individual speed. On the other, steals are no longer a large part of today's game. I'm for stolen bases as a category, though, however antiquated it may be.

5. Batting Average This stat is fine, however OBP and Slugging Percentage are better. In place of batting average, I like a cummulative stat like hits.

EXTRA CATEGORY. Offensive Ks I love this stat because it keeps the relative value of individual power hitters under control and gives value to players who hit for average. In addition, it balances the offensive categories making 4 cummulative categories (HR, H, K, SB) and two average categories (OBP, SLG). A greater emphasis on cummulative categories leads to a more accurate measurement of a player's individual worth.

So, my offensive categories are: OBP, HR, SLG, SB, K, and Hits. I believe these 6 categories more accurately measure the individual player's offensive ability than: Runs, HR, RBI, SB, and Avg.

Thoughts?

[Godfather80]

So, nobody has thoughts on fantasy baseball stats. C'mon, almost everybody plays.

[babolat2389]

i understand that fantasy is basically an evaluation of individual sucess/failure part of what makes the game so much more interersting is that you have to think about how a given players team will affect that players stats negativly or positivly. By encorporating stats that are influence by the team and not one individual it adds depth and intrest to the overall game.