By now, on-base percentage is one of the more widely accepted, non-controversial advanced baseball statistics us Interweb-dwellers like to cling to. Actually, it almost seems incorrect to call OBP "advanced." It's really about as simple as it gets: it's the percentage of at-bats in which a hitter reaches base. I mean, that's simple. Really, incredibly simple. Brandon Phillips apparently disagrees. It's not exactly surprising -- baseball players aren't required to read Bill James from the womb, or something. Their primary function is to do baseball, not think about it. But it is funny to point and laugh at the dummy in the corner. From John Fay at the Cinci Enquirer:
Here's a quote from Brandon Phillips from a feature story I wrote on him for tomorrow's paper: "I don't believe that on-base percentage stuff. That's overrated to me. If you get hits, you'll be on base. That's what it's about."Oh, Brandon. Brandon, Brandon, Brandon. It is unfortunate that at no point in your baseball upbringing were you informed that by walking -- by taking four straight balls as decided by the man in black padding behind you -- that you could, indeed, reach base. You don't have to swing, man! Hitting the baseball is already incredibly difficult. Imagine how hard it must be when you don't know you don't have to swing at wild pitches.
