The Language of FanGraphs

[HoustonGM]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...e-of-fangraphs

Acronyms I say:

FIP - rhymes with hip.
wOBA - woah-buh, emphasis on first syllable, rhymes with toga (sort of?).
SLG - slug, like the animal.
BABIP - bab-ip, rhymes with nothing, no idea why I say this.
ISO - eye-so, this is actually a word, so that helps.
WHIP - pronounced like Indy's weapon
LOB% - lob percentage, said like its the rate of soft-tossed pitches
WAR - said like a really big fight

Acronyms I spell:

E-R-A - not sure why I don't say era, like a period of time, but I don't.
O-B-P - are you down with OBP? Yeah, you know me.
O-P-S - not ops, as in operation, and never heard it said that way.
U-Z-R - someone once called it "oozer", and I tried not to laugh.
W-P-A - can't even figure out how I would say this? "whoop-a?"
W-R-A-A - no way I'm going to say "were-aahh" to someone.

So, that's my list. I know everyone does it differently, though, so I'm curious, which ones do you spell and which ones do you say? And does anyone have any idea why?

Purely coincidental, I guess, but I pronounce all the acronyms the same as Dave Cameron does, except wOBA, which I spell out.

[Alloutwar]

I don't think I've ever had the occasion to utter any of these aloud.

But in my head, i match, except wOBA as well.

[HoustonGM]

I don't think I've ever had the occasion to utter any of these aloud.

But in my head, i match, except wOBA as well.

I haven't said much of them aloud, as well, but that's how I pronounce them in my head when I'm reading.

[dps]

Hm. ERA I spell out; WHIP I pronounce as the word "whip"; most of the others I actualy say the full term if I'm speaking aloud, i.e., for OBP I say "on-base percentage".

[200tang]

I say woah-buh in my head too :3

[kenny1234]

In my head it is woah-buh, like Cameron, but ops (one syllable) or ops-plus, which is apparently different.

[dps]

In my head it is woah-buh, like Cameron, but ops (one syllable) or ops-plus, which is apparently different.

Yeah, it's different. OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage. For example, if your stat line is .340/.402/.519, your OPS is .921 (.402+.519=.921, unless my math skills have deteriorated a lot more than I think). OPS+ is essentially your OPS compared to the league average, with some adjustments (park effects mostly, though not all sources calculate the numbers exactly the same).

[HoustonGM]

Yeah, it's different. OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage. For example, if your stat line is .340/.402/.519, your OPS is .921 (.402+.519=.921, unless my math skills have deteriorated a lot more than I think). OPS+ is essentially your OPS compared to the league average, with some adjustments (park effects mostly, though not all sources calculate the numbers exactly the same).

I think kenny meant "different from how Cameron says it".

[dps]

I think kenny meant "different from how Cameron says it".

Oops.


BTW, oops isn't a sabermetric stat.

[SirKodiak]

Oops.


BTW, oops isn't a sabermetric stat.

Opponents OPS

[SirKodiak]

Here is where the creator of wOBA got his inspiration for the name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maYnqbdo2jw

He discusses it here:

Q: wOBA, huh? Every time I see this stat, or even think about it, I will always think of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maYnq...eature=related

A: Busted.

You are the first person to mention this to me. I watched alot of Sesame Street with my boy, and that song was *definitely* a reason that I named it wOBA. I wanted to give the name something light. I used to call it lwtsOBA or lwtsOBP (for linear weights), and I was thinking of also wOBP. But, wOBA worked for the name, and making it match to the song was my little secret.

[FloydtheBarber]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...e-of-fangraphs

Purely coincidental, I guess, but I pronounce all the acronyms the same as Dave Cameron does, except wOBA, which I spell out.

I match on them all except wOBA and UZR. UZR I pronounce "oozier"

[filihok]

I almost posted this, then I didn't.

I was going to have a poll because I can't fathom that people don't SAY "OPS"

[HoustonGM]

I was going to have a poll because I can't fathom that people don't SAY "OPS"

What do you mean?

[Jeffy25]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...e-of-fangraphs

Purely coincidental, I guess, but I pronounce all the acronyms the same as Dave Cameron does, except wOBA, which I spell out.

I am the same way as you then.

Imagine if announcers started saying era - like it was a general amount of time and not letters?