San Diego Padres pitcher Blake Snell is one of the more unique personalities in baseball, which always makes for a fun interview during games.
On Tuesday, the Padres got Snell to join the Bally Sports broadcast from the dugout in the third inning. And the free-flowing conversation included a real-time quiz about advanced metrics.
Basically, Snell noticed that the Petco Park videoboard displayed “wRC+” and he genuinely didn’t know what it was. So, he asked play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo if he knew. Orsillo did not know either, and they somewhat tried to figure out the statistic as the Nelson Cruz at-bat went on.
Blake Snell on wRC+ 😂 pic.twitter.com/jVOHQ19qpt
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 3, 2023
The stat actually means weighted runs created plus, which is the runs created statistic that also takes into account factors like ballpark. Via MLB.com:
It’s adjusted, so a wRC+ of 100 is league average and 150 would be 50 percent above league average. For example, a player who plays his home games at hitter-friendly Coors Field will have a lower wRC+ than a player who posts identical stats at pitcher-friendly Oakland Coliseum.
While fans thought it was surprising that Snell didn’t know about wRC+, many thought the Padres broadcast should have had some knowledge of the stat. Either way, it made for a fun exchange.
This was how Twitter reacted
Blake Snell not knowing what wRC+ is doesn’t matter, but the announcers should be able to give a decent explanation…
Weighted simply means you get more credit for a double than a single, etc.
+ means it’s adjusted for park factors and to the league average (which is 100) https://t.co/pugxdxsaN2
— Spencer Michaelis (@smichaelis234) May 3, 2023
Honestly, this is a more accurate view of most of baseball 😂 https://t.co/C41N9PFmVZ
— OC (@OC____) May 3, 2023
Media members dont even know what a basic saber-metric is https://t.co/hYqGEyjyEo
— C@rs3n (@CeeLoudens) May 3, 2023
This is both
A) Disappointing that a guy like Snell doesn't know the simplest of advanced stats.
B) Also very disappointing that 2 broadcasters don't know it.I'm fine with critics of wRC+, but to have 0 idea what it even is, would be like me not knowing what Outlook is. https://t.co/ggD3fpucvk
— AVIstan G. (@isureppin12) May 3, 2023
With a gamer like @snellzilla4 I figured he'd be all up on this stuff.
Padres play the Twins next week. Can we mike up @TeamCJCorrea and have him talk to Snell? https://t.co/ohZky3pGxR
— Tangotiger ❌ (@tangotiger) May 3, 2023
It's pathetic that both a player and two baseball commentators don't know what wRC+ is. It's like one of the easiest stats to understand. https://t.co/rGzzo0IBej
— belt war veteran (@threeleftturns) May 3, 2023
Just imagine how they could grow the game by putting people in the booth who cared to keep up on this stuff https://t.co/8ouzbeMyRZ
— Ty Smith (@Smith2Ty) May 3, 2023
This is so sad. wRC+ is literally one of the best stats ever created to measure and contextualize offensive performance and people paid to explain the game show willful ignorance of it.
+ stats are scaled to help with comparison. 100 is average, 110 = 10% above league avg, etc. https://t.co/maum9n3vH4 pic.twitter.com/4MPiDJVQ5X
— Nick Veronica (@NickVeronica) May 3, 2023
It’s a tiny bit embarrassing that the typical broadcast booth doesn’t have someone who can reasonably explain the best all-encompassing hitting metric we have. Runs-based stats drive virtually every decision made both in games and in roster construction. https://t.co/9ZFC5laYTh
— Tim Fakename31 (@TimFakename31) May 3, 2023
