National+League+Pitchers

VS. As you can see by the table above even though Matt Morris has a way better batting average and a similar win loss statistic, Barry Zito makes 4.5 million dollars more than Matt Morris because of his better ERA (**E**arned **R**un **A**verage).
 * player || batting average || ERA || Salary || wins || loses || Team ||
 * Matt Morris || 198 || 3.91 || $5.5 million || 121 || 92 || Giants ||
 * Barry Zito || 124 || 3.82 || $10 million || 123 || 94 || Giants ||

This is just one example of an ERA being much more important than a batting average I have found many more results like this.

For Instance, Babe Ruth used to be a pitcher (arguably the best in baseball), but he was such a good hitter that they had him play a different position so he could concentrate on hitting. This proves if a team wants you as a pitcher they don't care about your Batting Average in less your exactly even with another pitcher.

//this is what i found out//** ERA less than 2.3; WHIP less than 1.2; OBP against less than .250; Slugging against less than .350
 * //WHAT MAKES A PITCHER GREAT?//

This is a pitcher that totally shuts other teams down and does it night in and night out. You won't find many of those critters running around much either. Nothing in there says anything about hitting = **//HOW MANY ARE THERE, THEN?//** = = = Only Pedro had an ERA below 2.30 (2.22) in the majors last year. Eighteen pitchers had a WHIP of 1.20 or below. Only Schmidt had an OBP against of less than .250 (.248) Exactly 10 had a slg against of .350 or less.


 * ERA**= how many runs would be scored on a pitcher on average if they pitched nine innings. For example, if a pitcher pitched six inning and two runs scored while they were pitching their ERA would be three.


 * WHIP**= (walk+hits) divided by innings pitched


 * OBP**= (on base percentage) is the percentage you get on base out of every time you hit,it is out of 1,000. For example, if you got an base 39.8% of the time you would have a 398 slugging percentage. its the average OBP against that pitcher.


 * SLUGGING PERCENTAGE**= Add up all official at bats. Do not include those at bats that resulted in a walk, sacrifices or hit by pitch. Add up total bases. Total bases are how many bases you reached in all the times you hit safely. Divide total bases by official at bats.  Round to the third decimal place. For example, .57051 is .571.

media type="custom" key="3750279" Notice how none of the pictures of pitchers making great plays are of them hitting.

when you here the word pitcher what do you think of? I bet you never think of them hitting. click to see resources