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What Is wOBA in Baseball?

wOBA, or weighted on-base average, is a rate stat that measures a hitter's total offensive value per plate appearance. Unlike on-base percentage, it credits each way of reaching base by its real run value, so a home run counts far more than a walk. It is scaled to league OBP, so around .315 was average in 2025.

How wOBA is calculated

On-base percentage treats every time a hitter reaches base the same, whether it is a walk or a home run. wOBA fixes that. It assigns each offensive event a weight equal to how much that event is actually worth in runs, then divides by plate appearances. A home run helps a team score more than a single, and a single helps more than a walk, so wOBA weights them in that order.

The weights come from run expectancy data, roughly a walk near 0.69, a hit by pitch near 0.72, a single near 0.89, a double near 1.27, a triple near 1.62, and a home run near 2.10 in a recent season. Those coefficients are recalculated every year to match the current run-scoring environment, so the same stat line can produce a slightly different wOBA from one season to the next. You do not have to do the math yourself: FanGraphs and Baseball Savant publish wOBA for every hitter.

What counts as a good wOBA

The convenient part is the scale. wOBA is normalized so that league-average wOBA always equals league-average on-base percentage, which means if you know a good OBP, you know a good wOBA. In 2025 the league OBP sat around .315 (NL .317, AL .313), so league-average wOBA was about .315 as well. FanGraphs publishes these rule-of-thumb tiers:

Because the scale is anchored to OBP, the numbers feel familiar right away, and a hitter above .360 is someone you want in your lineup.

wOBA versus OBP and OPS

wOBA is often described as a better version of OPS. OPS adds on-base percentage and slugging together, but that math is crude: it treats a point of OBP and a point of slugging as equal, when getting on base is actually worth more. wOBA weights everything correctly on a single scale, which makes it one of the cleanest one-number reads on how much offense a hitter creates. For a fuller picture, read what OPS is, then note that wOBA refines the same idea.

Why wOBA matters for betting

wOBA is a strong filter for hitter-side props like hits, total bases, and combined H+R+RBI markets, because it captures overall offensive quality in one number rather than making you juggle average, power, and patience separately. A high-wOBA bat is more likely to reach base and drive the ball, which feeds run-scoring props. Its expected cousin, xwOBA, goes a step further by using the quality of contact underneath the results, which flags hitters who are producing more than their surface stats show. For that leading-indicator angle, see what expected stats are.

How BetLogic helps

BetLogic's HRR Sheet leans on overall offensive quality and matchup context when ranking the day's best hits, runs, and RBIs targets, so you are backing bats that create real run value rather than chasing a name. See today's H+R+RBI picks, updated before first pitch.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good wOBA in MLB?
Because wOBA is scaled to league on-base percentage, around .320 is a typical average hitter. FanGraphs marks .340 as above average, .370 as great, and .400 as excellent. Anything at .300 or below is poor.
How is wOBA different from OBP?
On-base percentage treats every time on base equally. wOBA weights each event by its real run value, so a home run counts far more than a walk. The two share a scale: league-average wOBA always equals league-average OBP.
Is wOBA better than OPS?
Most analysts think so. OPS adds OBP and slugging as if they are equally valuable, which they are not. wOBA weights every outcome correctly on one scale, giving a cleaner single-number read on a hitter's offense.
What is the difference between wOBA and xwOBA?
wOBA is built from actual results. xwOBA (expected wOBA) uses the quality of contact, like exit velocity and launch angle, to estimate what a hitter should have produced, which makes it a better leading indicator when results lag.

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