I Created A New Baseball Analytic

A Blog By Dean

and

May 04, 2025

Editors Note: BBI, ABBI, and BBI+ are original statistical models developed by The Skipper’s View. Please credit skippsviewdean when referencing or republishing these metrics.

If you’ve been reading The Skipper’s View over the past few years, you know I have a complicated relationship with analytics, especially expected stats. Too often, I feel like they’re used to defend poor performance with theoretical outcomes instead of actual results.

Over the past month, I’ve been tracking fifteen MLB players using torpedo bats, digging into their stats to see if the bat is truly making a difference. And somewhere along the way, I realized something was missing:

There’s no metric that combines how hard a player hits the ball with what actually happens on the field.

Not projected value. Not regression-based guesses. I wanted something that combined exit velocity and barrel rate with the fundamentals: batting average, home runs, and slugging percentage.

So I made one….. and then a few more.

It’s pretty simple, instead of looking at a Baseball Savant page and being wowed by all the red, but confused by the production numbers, I just now look at my own analytic and I will know if someones contact quality metrics are actually leading to anything.

I won’t pretend I did it alone — I’m no mathematician. I worked with ChatGPT to code and test the calculations, pulled data from Baseball Savant, and built an initial leaderboard using a sample of qualified batters so far in 2025.

BBI (Bat Boost Index)

BBI is a composite score based on five key stats:

Batting Average
Home Runs per At-Bat (HR/AB)
Slugging Percentage (SLG)
Exit Velocity (EV)
Barrel Rate (% of ABs that result in barrels)

Each stat is normalized to a 0–5 scale using Min-Max scaling:

Normalized Score = 5 * (x - min(x)) / (max(x) - min(x))

Then they’re averaged:

BBI = (Normalized AVG + HR/AB + SLG + EV + Barrel%) / 5

The result is a clean, visual score — 0 means ice cold, 5 means elite — based solely on real outcomes and swing quality.

ABBI (Adjusted Bat Boost Index)

To account for small sample sizes, I created ABBI — a version of BBI that uses regression to the mean based on at-bats (AB).

For each stat:

Adjusted Stat = (AB / (AB + k)) * Player Stat + (k / (AB + k)) * League Average

Where k = 100, acting as a shrinkage constant. A player with 30 ABs will be pulled closer to league average; a player with 200 ABs will rely more on his own numbers.

Then, ABBI is calculated just like BBI — average the normalized adjusted values:

ABBI = (Normalized Adjusted AVG + HR/AB + SLG + EV + Barrel%) / 5

This isn’t just a mashup of stats. BBI and ABBI are designed for the tech-driven, bat-optimized era of hitting. They account for:

Raw production (AVG, HR, SLG)
Contact quality (EV, Barrel%)
Sample-size volatility
And they communicate clearly with a 0–5 scale

BBI + (And Eventually ABBI+)

When I first created BBI (Bat Boost Index), my goal was simple: measure a hitter’s offensive performance using a mix of actual outcomes (like AVG and HR) and underlying swing quality (like exit velocity and barrel rate). I wanted something that cut through theoretical projections and focused on real production.

And that’s where BBI+ comes in.

BBI+ is an expanded version of the original Bat Boost Index. It still measures power and production, but now adds a layer of swing efficiency and discipline — giving you a fuller, smarter picture of who’s really locked in at the plate.

BBI+ is calculated using 10 key stats, all normalized to a 0–5 scale:

Results-Based Metrics:

AVG – Batting average
HR/AB – Home runs per at-bat
SLG – Slugging percentage

Contact Quality Metrics:

Exit Velocity – Average EV
Barrel % – Perfect contact
Hard Hit % – Balls hit 95+ mph
Sweet Spot % – Ideal launch angle (8°–32°)

Swing Consistency & Discipline:

K % – Strikeout rate (inverted)
O-Swing % – Chase rate (inverted)
Whiff % – Swings and misses (inverted)

Each stat is scaled from 0 to 5. The three discipline stats are inverted so that better results (lower %) get higher scores. The final BBI+ score is the average of all 10 components:

BBI+ = Average of all 10 normalized stats

BBI was a great first step — it captures what happens when a hitter makes contact. But BBI+ tells you if they’re putting themselves in the best position to do it consistently.

It rewards:

Great swings
Good decisions
And hitters who do damage without relying on walks or strike zone manipulation

Where BBI focused on power and production, BBI+ adds approach and sustainability. It helps identify players who are due to break out, or who are thriving not just because they’re hot — but because their swing is fundamentally strong.

I broke down the Top 10 for BBI, ABBI, and BBI+ below. A lot of the same names, but some interesting changes. If you are interested where your favorite player falls let me know!

BBI™, ABBI™, and BBI+™ are original analytics created by @skippsviewdean.
Redistribution, republishing, or modification without attribution is prohibited.

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