Walks Plus Hits To Innings Pitched (WHIP)

The increased popularity of fantasy baseball has made the pitching statistic, walks plus hits to inning pitched (WHIP), one of the most commonly used baseball statistic in baseball usage. WHIP is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. It is a measure of a pitcher’s ability to prevent batters from reaching base.

Over the last century, earned run average (ERA) has been the pitching statistic used to measure the runs a pitcher gives up. However, WHIP is becoming more important because it measures a pitcher’s effectiveness against the batters faced more directly. It is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and dividing this sum by the number of innings pitched; therefore, the lower a pitcher’s WHIP, the better their performance. One key distinction between WHIP and ERA is that the former will continue to rise as long as batters reach base. If an error is committed with two outs in an inning, any runs scored beyond that point in the same inning will be considered unearned and will not cause that pitcher’s ERA to rise. A WHIP of 1.0 or smaller over the course of a season will often rank among the league leaders in Major League Baseball.