Are HOMA & HOMA-C the Most Complete and Relevant Comparative Measurements for MLB Career Evaluation?
There have been multiple scoring systems designed to measure greatness over a ball player’s career to eventually determine their enshrinement into baseball’s Hall of Fame. These have included “grey ink” and “black ink” (related to finishing in the top ten or at the very top of a variety of seasonal statictical categories), HOF Monitor and Hall of Fame Career Test (points awarded for reaching certain milestones with some post season factors included with the former) and the Jaffe WAR Score system-JAWS, which averages a players career WAR with the cumulative WAR over their highest seven seasons. All these systems are described here:
Then there is the Hall of Stats that combines an adjWAR and WAA (Wins Against Average).
Hall of Stats WAR and WAA Reference
The HOMA scoring system uses a unique Peak WAA component that includes a minimum longevity element baseline of eight years of above average WAA. This is then combined with a peak rating scale of OPS+ and Rdef+ (called Peak O&D) for position players and ERA+ for pitchers. For the Peak WAA component of the HOMA score, a 20% penalty is imposed on those who were confirmed to have used performance enhancing drugs for at least a year during their playing careers.
Also addressed is the issue of relief pitchers having significant ERA+ scores due to partial innings pitched. There is a 30% reduction in ERA+ score for the proportion of games pitched as a reliever.
The HOMA-C (‘C’ for championship) scoring adds in another component for post-season championship performance. The Player Championship Score (PCS) includes both team success and individual awards. A full description of both the HOMA scoring systems is given here:
A description of the HOMA system would not be complete without providing a method for how the Negro Leagues player performance is to be equitably measured. The major limiting issue for doing performance comparisons for these players is that, due to shorter sesaons and incomplete or missing box scores/game accounts, NGLers will vastly underperform their traditional major league counterparts in all the counting statistics including WAA. To adjust for this, Peak WAA was determined by projecting a player’s performance over a full 145 game season with games played adjusted in proportion to that team’s year player with the most appearances.
So what then makes HOMA so special? At its core, the HOMA score basically combines two of the most important and utilized modern analytical metrics- WAA and OPS+ (for hitters) / WAA and ERA+ (for pitchers) and only considers peak seasons. No other Hall of Fame metric attempts this. As noted the OPS+ is also combined with a novel defensive metric, Rdef+.
Based on these metrics, the career HOMA scores include these unique factors:
- A measure of Peak WAA, defined as a period of sustained significant WAA performance of two wins or greater (1.5 for pitchers) along with a 20% adjustment for PED useage.
- A measure of Peak O&D/ERA+, defined as a period of sustained significant O&D or ERA+ performance at least 24% above average.
- A baseline of peak longevity of 8 seasons with total peak scores either enhanced or diminished in relation to the baseline.
- Equitable adjustments for Negro League statiscal limitations by using adjusted 145 game seasonal averages.
- Adding a team and individual post-season championship performance elements in deriving a HOMA-C metric to provide a more overall career metric.
Compare these features with the limitations of the other career evaluation scoring systems.
The comprehensive WAA performance measurement is absent from both the grey and black ink and the HOF Monitor and Hall of Fame Career Test scoring systems, instead subsitutung numerous statistical categories. Also the apples to apples career comparisons as utilized in OPS+/ERA+ are not considered. No consideration is given to any NGL statistical adjustments.
The Jaffe JAWS system makes use of a peak WAR element but then relies on career WAR for the other part of its measrement system. How significant is it, when a evaluating a player’s career, to consider continued years of low value WAR and then not to emphasize high WAR output beyond the system’s seven year peak baseline? Sustained greatness is softened and sustained mediocrity is rewarded. Again there is no NGL adjustment or consideration of OPS+/ERA+.
The Hall of Stats is in some ways similar to Jaffe. Its Wins Against Average could be considered as a Peak Measure system (with no years restriction like Jaffe does) with its WAR component exactly matching the Jaffe career WAR total. It does do a better job dealing with Peak performance by using Wins Against Average but still also rewards sustained mediocrity. Once again there is no NGL adjustment or consideration of OPS+/ERA+.
What is needed is a system that takes account of extended peak performance; recognizes significant performance on era comparative and comprehensive rate scales (OPS+ and ERA+); makes eqitable adjustments for NGLers based on projected full major league season (145 game) WAA; and is willing to apply fair penalties for known cases of PED use.
And so, welcome to the Hall of Maximum Achievement score.