Every few days or so I get an email from a reader asking about some of the numbers I (and others) use on the website. They usually go something like "hey Jeff, I was wondering about one of the statistics you used the other day, but I didn't want to ask about it and look stupid. What is the meaning of (statistical acronym)?"
I'm fine with getting those emails, and I try to reply to them as best I can. But since the common theme seems to be that people don't want to ask questions here either because (A) they don't know where to ask, or (B) they don't want to be made fun of, I thought I'd take a measure to rectify the situation by opening this thread. In the comments below, you're welcome to ask questions on any statistic about which you're unclear - no matter how simple - and we'll see to it that you get a good answer. Don't get FIP? Not sure what counts as a good groundball percentage? Curious about the league-average BA? This is your thread. While I don't know how popular it's going to be (if at all), my hope is that this'll help get people caught up while eventually serving as a kind of partial FAQ for people new to analysis.
Go to town. (And please, let's keep this thread on topic.)