What is Whip in Baseball?

WHIP stands for walks + hits divided by innings pitched. This essentially gives us a number fof how many baserunners per inning a pitcher allows. This is some REALLY GOOD STUFF when it comes to handicapping baseball games because it’s a much more telling stat than ERA, which is saying a lot. Let’s take a look at an example below.

WHIP is a Huge Factor When Handicapping Baseball

Example: A pitcher has thrown 100 innings on the season. During that stint, he’s given up 85 hits and 40 walks. We take the 40 walks and add them to the 85 hits. This gives us a total of 125 walks/hits combined. We then divide that by the 100 innings pitched which gives us a WHIP of 1.25. In case you’re wondering, that’s a pretty average number. Let’s take a look at the good, average, and the ugly broken down on a scale:

1.00 or under: Flat nasty. Stellar. Very few pitchers will achieve this feat. Maybe a real filthy closer or a Randy Johnson/Pedro Martinez/Greg Maddux/Jacob deGrom during their prime.

1.01-1.20: Very good. Very respectable. A pitcher with these types of numbers doesn’t allow many hitters on base and is likely to be a successful Major Leaguer.

1.25-1.40: These numbers are decent to fairly average.

1.40-1.50: These aren’t very desirable statistics and these pitchers likely have control problems or problems with their mechanics and don’t have what it takes to be in the big leagues for long.

1.50 and above: Gas can is the first thing that comes to mind. Given the opportunity to bet against a whip above 1.50 (if at decent odds) is a great proposition. This is a hurler who constantly allows runners to reach base which is a losing proposition in MLB.a

You probably won’t see too many WHIPs above 1.50 in MLB. Many of these guys get sent down to the minors or end up out of the game.

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