Baseball Reference Glossary

On Base Plus Slugging (OPS)

What is On Base Plus Slugging?

On Base Plus Slugging (aka OPS, and sometimes called Offensive Production Statistic) is the sum of on-base percentage (how often a player reaches base) and slugging percentage (how many bases a player records per at-bat). Because OPS combines on-base percentage and slugging percentage, it tells us how good a player is at both batting and getting on base.

There are many variations on OPS, including Gross Production Average, which tries to reflect the different values of getting on base and slugging, and OPS+, which we’ll explore later in this section.

How is OPS used?

OPS is a common statistic used by sabermetricians to judge a player’s overall offensive performance. It was first devised by Pete Palmer as a simple measure of a batter’s offensive contribution that still correlates with more sophisticated measures of offensive production. 

What is a good OPS in baseball?

A good on-base plus slugging percentage is anything above the league average, which is usually between .700 and .750. Anything above .900 is considered elite.

What is OPS+?

Another way of using OPS is considering OPS+ (aka Adjusted OPS or NOPS/Normalized OPS). Some serious fans consider it the best quick way to get a sense of a batter’s quality. 

OPS+ adjusts OPS to account for the ballpark and the league that a player played in. It also “normalizes” the number, so that the median is 100 and better-than-average scores are above 100. This makes it easy to tell what a good OPS+ is.

A single-season OPS+ performance of 140 or higher could be considered a Hall of Fame level performance for that season. In terms of career performance, the top 100 players have a career OPS+ of 138 or higher.

On Base Plus Slugging Formula

The baseball OPS formula is:

OPS = OBP + SLG

OBP is the player’s on-base percentage, and SLG is the player’s slugging percentage.

On Base Plus Slugging Examples

How to calculate On Base Plus Slugging for a season

Let’s use Shohei Ohtani’s 2024 season stats as an example of how to calculate on base plus slugging percentage. In 2024, Ohtani recorded a .390 on-base percentage and .646 slugging percentage. Here’s how to use the baseball OPS formula to calculate Shohei Ohtani’s 2024 OPS:

  1. Add Ohtani’s OBP and SLG. .390+.646 = 1.036.

Ohtani had a 1.036 OPS in 2024. That is an excellent OPS, making him an elite hitter for the 2024 season.

How to calculate On Base Plus Slugging for a game

We can also use the OPS formula to calculate OPS in a single game. In the first game of the 2024 World Series, Ohtani recorded a .414 OBP and .489 SLG.

  1. Add his one-game OBP and SLG. .414+.489 = .903.

Ohtani had a .903 OPS in the first game of the 2024 World Series.

OPS Calculator

Interesting OPS Stats

You can see the single-season leaders in OPS, or the career leaders in OPS on Baseball Reference.

Filed under Statistics