What Is a Good FIP in Baseball?
Evaluate baseball pitchers effectively. This guide explains FIP, how to interpret its scores, and its importance in assessing true performance.
Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is a baseball statistic designed to evaluate a pitcher’s performance by focusing on outcomes they largely control. Unlike traditional metrics influenced by defense or luck, FIP isolates a pitcher’s true skill. It provides a clearer picture of a pitcher’s effectiveness, helping analysts and fans understand their underlying ability.
Understanding FIP
FIP measures a pitcher’s performance by concentrating on events primarily within their command: home runs, walks, hit-by-pitches, and strikeouts. These outcomes are independent of defense because they don’t involve the ball being put into play.
Home runs, strikeouts, walks, and hit-by-pitches are considered the core of FIP. Pitchers have limited control over what happens once a ball is put into play, making these events a stable indicator of performance compared to statistics dependent on defensive support or random sequencing.
Interpreting FIP Scores
FIP scores are scaled to resemble Earned Run Average (ERA), meaning lower numbers indicate better performance. The league average FIP generally aligns with the league average ERA for that season. For instance, the MLB league average FIP for the 2024 regular season is approximately 4.07.
To interpret individual FIP scores, benchmarks categorize performance levels. An excellent FIP is typically around 3.20, while 3.50 is considered great. An above-average FIP might fall around 3.80, with an average FIP generally near 4.20. Scores above this, such as 4.40 (below average) or 4.70 (poor), suggest less effective pitching based on controllable outcomes.
FIP is often considered a predictive statistic, offering insights into how a pitcher should perform in the future, rather than solely describing past results.
Applying FIP for Evaluation
Analysts frequently prefer FIP over traditional metrics like ERA when evaluating a pitcher’s true skill level and predicting future success. This preference stems from FIP’s ability to filter out the influence of defensive play and situational luck. ERA, which accounts for all earned runs, can be significantly swayed by factors outside the pitcher’s direct control, such as fielding errors or well-placed batted balls that happen to fall for hits.
By isolating the events a pitcher controls—strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches, and home runs—FIP provides a more accurate assessment of their underlying talent. It helps to differentiate between a pitcher who is genuinely effective and one who might be benefiting from exceptional defense or fortunate outcomes on balls in play.
For example, a pitcher with a high ERA but a low FIP might be experiencing bad luck or poor defensive support, suggesting their future performance could improve. Conversely, a pitcher with a low ERA but a high FIP may have been fortunate, indicating potential regression in the future. FIP has demonstrated a stronger ability to predict a pitcher’s future ERA than their current ERA, making it a valuable tool for forecasting performance.