Hello, friends. About a month ago, we looked at the league-wide distribution of hitting outcomes, as expressed through wRC+. This is a follow-on that focuses on the flip side: what is the league-wide distribution of pitching outcomes?
To talk about this, we’re going to focus on FIP, and more specifically, FIP-. As a quick refresher, FIP is a stat set to resemble ERA (i.e., runs per nine innings) that is driven only by strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed. Especially for this exercise, FIP is probably the best comparable to wRC+, and measure of pitching outcomes available.