The RBI — more than most baseball stats — has taken a beating in recent years. It’s not popular in sabermetric circles. It’s been called meaningless, flawed, obsolete and misleading.
It’s an “old-school counting stat,” those into analytics scoff of the old-fashioned run batted in, a statistic that is found on the back of every baseball card. It’s a measure more of opportunity than individual ability.
But don’t tell all that to either Giancarlo Stanton or Marcell Ozuna.
“The guys arguing [against it] are probably the ones who have never seen a pitch,” Stanton said.
Given a choice of home runs, batting average or RBI, three traditional statistics that have been around for generations, Ozuna said the one that is most significant to him is the RBI.