Over the years, we’ve heard a lot of arguments over BABIP regression on here. The number itself tends to fluctuate from year to year, but there are players in MLB that can sustain better than average numbers consistently from year to year. One example is Diamondbacks 1B Paul Goldschmidt, who lowest full season BABIP is .340 from the 2012 season and has a career BABIP of .356. The one flaw in BABIP is it only uses absolute results with balls in play such as hits, home runs, strikeouts, and sacrifice flies. What it doesn’t tell you is how good batters are from a batted ball standpoint.
BABIP and xBABIP: When does balls in play go from a fluke to an actual ability?
