Fantasy Baseball Draft Tip: Focus on OPS

OPS is the sum of a player's on base percentage plus slugging percentage. It sums up that player's productivity in a nice round number. Batting average can vary wildly from season to season for a player due to various factors... but a good on base percentage generally stays within a consistent range, and of course a powerful hitter usually runs a high slugging percentage.

When building your team, instead of rating all the top HR guys, then rating all the top RBI guys, then rating the top averages... you can just rate everybody by OPS.

Players with the highest OPS:

Hit more doubles, triples and home runs. With runners on base, extra base hits drive in runs far more often than singles, leading to more RBI. Plus a hitter that ends up on 2^nd or 3^rd base rather than 1^st stands a higher chance of scoring, which leads to generally higher run totals. There's no way you can run a high OPS without hitting at least 20-30 doubles, usually more than that, and most of these guys are good for a few triples.

Tend to hit home runs. Home runs are instant stat padders in several category: One HR also produces one run and 1-4 RBI. It's very hard to build a high OPS without hitting a couple dozen HR, so when you draft a high OPS guy, you can usually be confident you're getting some sort of a slugger.

Score more runs and deliver more RBI: As mentioned, the extra base hits that build a high OPS usually lead to more R and more RBI. It's akin to the rich getting richer.

Tend to hit for high average: All high OPS numbers come with a high OBP, a guy who gets on base a lot. Though there are a few exceptions (like Adam Dunn), the vast majority of these high OBP players get there with a high batting average, which helps your fantasy team.

Given that, the value of valuing OPS is obvious. It's like an umbrella under which all the other valuable hitting stats develop in bunches. Focus on drafting the higher OPS guys and you'll be surprised how easily the average, runs, RBI and home runs come, even though you weren't specifically drafting for those numbers.