Let’s mix a little game theory with roster management and player analysis.
How do you go about improving in the batting average (OBP) category?
Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs, @jeffwzimmerman): Trades. While it sounds simple, move extreme contributors in power and speed but low OBP for hitters who provide OBP. The only other option is seeing if your team’s lowest OBP can be upgraded. Otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to improve on it.
Brad Johnson (Patreon BaseballATeam, @BaseballATeam): The main thing is to actually do the math. Say you see you have a .260 AVG and want to be at .268. What does that actually mean in terms of the average you need to get there? Converting AVG into H/AB can help you visualize matters. It’s one thing to say “I need someone with a .325 AVG.” But you might need to spread that over several someones and figure out some platoons. That’s when seeing it as H/AB is most helpful.
Fred Zinkie (Yahoo/Rotowire, @FredZinkieMLB): Addition by subtraction. Either via trade or the waiver wire, try to get rid of the players who are killing your BA/OBP (assuming that you have reason to believe that those players will continue to have low averages from this point forward).
Rick Wolf (SiriusXM, @RickWolf1): Colton & The Wolfman use addition by subtraction. This does mean dropping players who hit for a low average or have a low OBP if that is your league’s format but only if they are not providing anything else. If the players have power or speed, find a trading partner. Trade that player in a package to get a need, usually pitching. Rely on BABIP to tell you if your player or a targeted player will improve his batting average. Low BABIP means the player has been unlucky. Expect a player’s average to go up if they are below their average BABIP.
Matt Williams (The Game Day, @MattWi77iams): I think the best route to improve AVG/OBP is by either working the trade market in order to improve any glaring deficiencies in your lineup, or by trying to take advantage of batting platoons. Platoons require the proper time & research to be successful, but it is a tried-and-true method to improve those categories.
Scott Swanay (FantasyBaseballSherpa, @fantasy_sherpa): If I’m prioritizing AVG or OBP to gain ground in the standings, then I’ll prioritize it when I look at rest-of-season projections for waiver wire players and/or players I’m considering trading for. Then again, since AVG/OBP are subject to quite a bit of random variation and can move down as well as up, it’s rare I’ll prioritize either in a vacuum. Also, given that in a 5×5 league there are typically 2 average-based pitching categories, but only 1 average-based hitting category, I generally focus less on the average-based hitting category than the pitching ones.
Scott Engel (The Game Day, @ScottETheKing): You really aren’t going to find much of anything on waivers. So my focus would be on the trade market. In a league with very experienced players, such as Tout Wars, it’s not difficult to make a fair deal. There isn’t much salesmanship involved, which can be annoying in other leagues. Each side knows what the other needs and what the other is willing to give up. You’re not going to rip anyone off, but you should always be able to fill a need.
Ray Murphy (BaseballHQ, @RayHQ): First step is excising your biggest BA/OBP offenders. You probably have someone on your roster, maybe not even a catcher, who’s got a .210 BA or worse. Stop playing them. Even finding a relatively empty .250 replacement is a meaningful improvement. From there, you can take the suggestions of others above: do the math to see what gains are possible, what regression candidates you have on your roster. Target trades, etc.
Vlad Sedler (FTN Fantasy, @rotogut): Folks on here have covered many of the important ways to do so, the most helpful recommending trades and to cut the hitters with subpar plate discipline who are damaging and dragging down your OBP. Worth noting that we must still be cognizant of the fact that there are nine other categories to be mindful of. In case we’re considering a full overhaul.
Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): Agree with above comments about math. I think typically it is a constant effort to improve the roster through PAs, but here we are saying that BA or OBP is where a larger number of standings points can be gained. What can I do to add 3 or 4 points in the standings without subtracting 3 or 4 somewhere else? In these competitive leagues, runs, RBIs, HRs and to some extent SBs are bought through PAs, so even when subtracting someone, you have to make sure it isn’t harming your other categories. Trade-wise, if I am trading to help one category, I look to only give up one other category if at all possible. So perhaps a team that has excess BA or OBP needs steals and I have a surplus of steals from a guy who is otherwise not helping me (runs, RBIs, HRs, BA or OBP). Or maybe it is saves that I can trade. Point is–it is one category for one category with a trade partner who has the need where my surplus can help. That is who I want to trade and the trade partner I want to target. Hypothetically speaking.
Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson): Step 1 – excise Javy Baez. Step 2 …. Step 3 – Profit!
Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): Ha! *checks to see if I have Javy Baez active anywhere*
Chris Clegg (Pitcher List, @RotoClegg): I think improving your batting average or OBP is always easier said than done. It does take work and effort. As many have mentioned, doing the math is important. See what you actually need rest of season and make moves that push you toward that goal. If your ratios seem bad right now, know it’s not to late to make moves to help your team via trade or waiver wire.
Michael A. Stein (Fantasy Judgment, @FantasyJudgment): I am disappointed I missed the dumping on Javier Baez by a few minutes, but I swear I was going throw him under the bus. Javier Baez makes Rob Deer look like Tony Gwynn. Batting average or OBP are difficult to significantly improve for all the reasons stated before. Trades are definitely the best way to go about improving. You could also make a conscious choice to bench everyday players who have low BA or OBP and opt for a part-time player who may not hurt you as much. This only works if you are solid in the other categories.
Mike Podhorzer (Fangraphs, @MikePodhorzer): Either by exercising excruciating patience if your roster is filled with unlucky BABIPers, or by trading for Luis Arraez.
Ariel Cohen (CBS Sports, @ATCNY): I think that it is obvious to everyone that if you stopped playing the lowest OBP players on your roster, in favor of the higher OBP players – you would theoretically improve your OBP going forward. There isn’t much wisdom in telling you that. I think the question becomes – which is it is the more efficient approach to make up points in the category by A) Using your own roster alone B) By looking on the waiver wire, or by C) Trading. And by efficient, I mean which compromises your other categories the least, and is the better use of fantasy capital (FAAB, player capital, etc.) for the largest potential improvement? Now, the answer is inherently roster and format dependent. However, I will say that I believe that the waiver wire option will be the least efficient of the three. The players capable of altering your ratios off the wire may be a larger drain on your team’s overall value than using options within (small gain for medium loss). And a for trading – although this option costs the most fantasy capital – it also tends to have the best chance at team improvement (medium gain at a cost). So the bottom line of what I’m saying here for advice – is that it is roster and format dependent, but trading or managing your active roster more closely may be more efficient than heading to the waiver wire in June for OBP improvement.
Andy Behrens (Yahoo Fantasy Sports, @andybehrens): Well, I’m giving Ryan Noda a test drive. Here’s hoping it works. It would be great if I could just stop using Jorge Mateo, but someone has to steal these bases.
Brent Hershey (Baseball HQ, @BrentHQ): The random fluctuation thing is what makes improving BA/OBP challenging IMO. Trading/lopping off offenders is a great way to do it, but if you’re stuck with picking up a free agent to try and help, I stick to skills and cross my fingers. BB/K for BA (especially combined with a poor BABIP; and double-digit BB% (either historical or projected) for OBP.
Ryan Bloomfield (BaseballHQ, @RyanBHQ): Lots of goodies so far, I’ll throw in Park Factors as something else you might use to gain an edge. We usually think of ballpark (dis)advantages in terms of home runs, but each track can play differently for batting average as well. BaseballHQ’s Park Factors, for example, has Wrigley Field boosting batting average for LHB by 11% despite it being a tough park for homers. To nobody’s surprise, Coors Field is MLB’s best batting average park with +13% and +19% BA gains for LHB and RHB, respectively. Play guys hitting in good parks!
Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella): I hate echoing everyone else but unless you’re in a shallower league, trades are the way to go here. Focus on another team that’s also low in the category and see if you can get them to give up in AVG/OBP in exchange for more power or speed. If it’s a team lower in the standings than you that needs to make a Hail Mary to contend, all the better.
Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola): For me, the first step is identifying the reason for the deficiency. Keep in mind, batting average (OBP) is the most tightly bunched category. Plus, you can gain points if those above you drop in average. The point being, you may not have to do anything if you have a few players hitting into bad luck, with regression likely. If the shortfall won’t take care of itself, the first place I look is catchers. Sometimes replacing a batting average crusher with a guy who doesn’t play much, but hits for a reasonable average can help the category without hurting counting stats. Past that, looking for unlucky players on the waiver wire, or an opponent’s roster is a nice pathway, since cost of acquisition may be reasonable. Players with a big delta between their xBA and BA are clear targets, though xBA can be misleading since it is essentially a park neutral stat and may be different per home venue. Still, it’s a good place to start. I’ll also look for players hitting the ball harder, or fanning less, without commensurate results.
Grey Albright (RazzBall, @razzball): Trade for players who have been unlucky on BABIP, or trade for Javier Baez and pay him not to play.
Dylan White (Baseball America, @the__arrival): It’s extremely difficult to make up ground – especially at this point in the season. For example, my Tout team, as currently constructed, is projected to end up with a .330 OBP. I drafted a number of counting stats guys who weren’t the greatest from an OBP standpoint: players like Willy Adames, Nick Castellanos, and Austin Hays. At this point in the season, taking currently accrued stats, if I replaced Nick Castellanos (ROS projection of .321 OBP) with, say, Christian Yelich’s projected ROS OBP of .363, my overall team’s OBP would only be projected to rise to .332. An improvement no doubt (+0.002). But there is certainly not a player of Yelich’s caliber on the wire. Looking at the best OBP projections available: Brandon Belt (.331), DJ LeMahieu (.344), or, for this Castellanos-replacement example, Jesse Winker (.348), my team’s overall projected seasonal OBP only goes up by +0.001…and that doesn’t even consider the loss in other categories. All this to say: the math isn’t in your favor to make up ground in OBP (or BA). You need to set an appropriate foundation during the draft (in my experience) or make sure all of your waiver wire transactions incrementally move upward in OBP/BA.
Scott Chu (Pitcher List, @ifthechufits): This is tough, because streaming batting average is really difficult outside attacking the 81 games in Coors field. If I was going to stream AVG, my approach would be to exploit platoons to the extreme. Guys like Gabriel Moreno and Rob Refsnyder aren’t appealing most of the time, but finding a spot for them when they’ll see 3+ lefties in a week can make an impact. Against righties, Kevin Kiermaier and Mauricio Dubon can do some damage. It’s not sexy, but at this point of the season you’re likely streaming a position or two anyway. Of course, in head-to-head formats, the easier play is to ignore the category entirely – your roster’s weekly batting average is impossible to predict. Even the streaming options won’t do much for you week-to-week as it’s their season-long cumulative impact than you’re chasing.
Paul Sporer (Fangraphs, @Sporer): Cutting the chaff with the guys who are hurting you most as many have mentioned is a major piece as well as patience on the hitters you believe in. You can stream hitters, but they won’t fix it in a week, so make sure you’re not expecting instant results with your pickups.
Anthony Aniano (Rotoballer, @AAnianoFantasy): Sometimes the best way to improve batting average is not by adding player but by subtraction. Case in point this season is Kyle Schwarber, if you need to make up point in BA and have enough power just replacing him with a .265 hitter will help your team gain a few points.
Frank Ammirante (The GameDayHQ, @FAmmiranteTFJ): You can improve your OBP by targeting a hitter with a high walk rate who has gotten off to a slow start this season. The perfect example of this is Triston Casas, who has a 15.7 BB%, but his OBP is only .318 due to his .194 batting average. Casas will eventually start performing more like a .230 to .240 hitter, which would make his OBP much better. There’s a good chance that he’s widely available due to his struggles so far.
Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): Project your whole league’s standings using a couple of stats sources to see how much gain you can make with the various tactics discussed above. It might be that someone ahead of you in the cat will move past you going backwards, if they’ve had an unsustainably hot BA start.
Jason Collette (Rotowire, @jasoncollette): It honestly depends on league context. In LABR, we can’t just bench guys so if you didn’t properly account for OBP risks, it’s an uphill slog. At least in Tout, we can cycle slumps out of our lineup to help manage the OBP risks. I do work to look at expected stats and look to take chances on trades or pickups while look to proactively bench folks over their skis. For example, I benched Brandon Lowe in another league before this current slump (even before the injury) got too bad. I wish I would have done the same with a slumping Taylor Walls.
Ian Kahn (, @IanKahn4): Baseball is a game of talent, skill, and most importantly confidence. I am looking at the guys on the wire who have been hot over the last 7 days. They will continue getting at-bats and might at least help a bit. Also, just sit Gallo some weeks. I know I do.
