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  • WAR in PIECES: A guide to baseball's superstat Wins above Replacement

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WAR in PIECES: A guide to baseball's superstat Wins above Replacement Kindle Edition

by Sean Smith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
If you follow baseball, you've probably heard about WAR, or Wins above Replacement. But how do you calculate it? Sean Smith walks through the methods used to calculate all of the components of WAR. Wins above Replacement has its roots in the early Baseball Abstracts of Bill James and the Hidden Game of Baseball by John Thorn and Pete Palmer.

This book explains how the pieces - batting, baserunning, fielding, and pitching - are calculated, why they are calculated that way, and explores ways that the calculations can be approved. Also included are many examples using great players of the past and present. See how Ray Schalk, one of the few clean White Sox of 1919, rates among the greatest defensive catchers of all time. Todd Helton is now in the Hall of Fame, but just how good were his batting statistics, and how much help did he get from Coors field? How much extra value did a workhorse starting pitcher like Jack Morris have by keeping his bullpens well rested? Should WAR be used to decide who wins the MVP award? Does WAR undervalue the catching position?

Sean Smith has been involved in baseball analytics for over 40 years. He is the proprietor of Baseballprojection.com, and creator of the CHONE projection system. He designed the WAR calculations now available on Baseball-Reference.com. His writing has been featured in publications such as the Hardball Times. From 2010 to 2023 he worked as a consultant for a major league team. He is a federal civil servant by day and lives in Maryland with his family. In addition to baseball, Sean possesses a wide variety of skills and abilities. He once performed physical labor in the service of the Incredible Hulk. In 2006, Time Magazine named him Person of the Year.
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  1. Reading age
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    414 pages
  3. Language
    English
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  5. Publication date
    October 7, 2024
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Sean Smith

Sean Smith

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Sean Smith is a baseball researcher who lives in Maryland. He grew up rooting for the California Angels. From 2010 to 2023 he worked as a consultant for the Toronto Blue Jays. He previously wrote for the Hardball Times.

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Informative
    Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Learn how WAR works from the mouth of one of the primary architects. Easy to read, to the point and it covers the bases well.
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  • Stephen Pegula
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for fans of baseball, statistics, and baseball statistics
    Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2024
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Wins above Replacement (WAR) is a fantastic tool to evaluate and compare players. But how do you calculate all of the components and synthesize them together? Sean Smith does a fantastic job laying out the myriad dimensions of WAR and the math behind them. Sean presents complex concepts in a straightforward, relatable fashion that should appeal to all types of readers.

    Perhaps most importantly, he expertly weaves in wonderful narratives of players, seasons, and careers throughout the book. I'm often struck by how frequently other analyses seem to regard the players and games as almost incidental to the statistics they accrue. Not so here. You can tell from the first few pages that Sean is a genuine baseball fan first who just so happens to have a tremendous aptitude for statistics.

    If you want to learn more about WAR and have a fun time doing it, get this book.
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  • Isaac Valenzuela
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Fans & Critics of WAR
    Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This was a fantastic book! I thought I liked Smith's WAR 2.0 after perusing its results, but after seeing him break down his reasoning behind every aspect of his new WAR system, i know I love it!

    Not only does Sean Smith justify WAR 2.0 in this book, he goes into the reasoning behind bWAR, fWAR & Win Shares as well. If you find yourself scratching your head when going on those sites, and seeing various comparisons, you'll have a much better understanding of what they were thinking, and why Smith made the changes & choices he made, after reading this book.

    I bought the kindle version of this book, and had a hard time looking away! It sucked me in until i was finished with it, and I know I'll read it several more times!

    For baseball fans who are concerned with evaluating players across history, this is the book for you!
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know more about WAR and what it is good for, this is your book.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Excellent read, highly recommend for a student of baseball or even a front office.

    Tastes great? Less filling? It is bold? Either way, the writer presents complex baseball statistics and the framework and logic behind them. But what makes the book thoroughly enjoyable, is the application to perennial and classic debates and case studies.
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  • tramoseats
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read
    Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2024
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    He knows baseball
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  • Scott Lindholm
    5.0 out of 5 stars Knowledge Is Power
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2024
    Format: Paperback
    Data
    Information
    Knowledge
    Wisdom

    Wins Above Replacement does this for the dedicated baseball fan, and Sean walks you through the path on how to understand it. Math is the quantification of logic, and you'll see the logic fleshed out.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Gary Fletcher
    5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific!
    Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Sean Smith is a treasure for fans of baseball analytics and for fans of baseball everywhere. He's also got a sense of humor and the patience of a saint. I'm not a saint, but even if I was, I wouldn't have that much patience with people like me. More specifically, if you want to know what goes into WAR - Wins Above Replacement - and not just accept the concluding summary numbers, this book will answer those questions and entertain you along the way.
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