sabermetrics

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the empirical analysis of baseball through objective, primarily statistical evidence, named after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and popularised by Bill James beginning in the late 1970s; sabermetrics challenged baseball's traditional reliance on scout intuition and conventional statistics like batting average and pitcher wins by demonstrating that metrics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage were better predictors of run production and team success; the Oakland Athletics' application of sabermetric principles under general manager Billy Beane, documented in Michael Lewis's Moneyball, brought the field to mainstream attention and catalysed an analytics revolution that transformed how front offices in baseball and other sports evaluate talent and make decisions