Gross production average
Gross production average is a baseball statistic created in 2003 by Aaron Gleeman, as a refinement of on-base plus slugging. GPA attempts to solve two frequently cited problems with OPS. First, OPS gives equal weight to its two components, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. In fact, OBP contributes significantly more to scoring runs than SLG does. Sabermetricians have calculated that OBP is about 80% more valuable than SLG. A second problem with OPS is that it generates numbers on a scale unfamiliar to most baseball fans. For all the problems with a traditional stat like batting average, baseball fans immediately know that a player batting.365 is significantly better than average, while a player batting.167 is significantly below average. But many fans do not immediately know how good a player with a 1.013 OPS is.
The basic formula for GPA is:
Unlike OPS, this formula both gives proper relative weight to its two component statistics and generates a number that falls on a scale similar to the familiar batting average scale.
All-time leaders
The all-time top 10 highest career gross production averages, among players with 3,000 or more plate appearances:- Babe Ruth.3858
- Ted Williams.3754
- Lou Gehrig.3592
- Barry Bonds.3516
- Jimmie Foxx.3449
- Rogers Hornsby.3396
- Hank Greenberg.3367
- Manny Ramirez.3312
- Mickey Mantle.3287
- Stan Musial.3274