Reading Merrill Kelly's 2026 Sabermetric Line

For pitchers we lead with FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching — what ERA should be if defense were league average; a 4.00 FIP is roughly average), K% and BB% (strikeout and walk rate per batter faced, the most predictive rate stats for future ERA), and BABIP against (around .300 is neutral; lower often means good defense or weak contact, higher can signal bad luck or hard contact allowed). ERA, WHIP, and raw IP are still here — but FIP tends to be the better predictor of next-season performance.

The radar chart below normalizes each metric so that 100 equals league average; anything above the dotted ring means the player is beating the league, and bigger polygons mean broader excellence. For a full glossary with formulas and worked examples, visit the Learn section. If you want to compare this player head-to-head with another, jump to the Matchup tool.