GWTW62,
You’re correct. It SEEMS that HBPs should be figured in it someplace, but the fact is they aren’t. They aren’t because the fellow who dreamed up WHIP didn’t put them in the calculation for some reason only he knows.
http://www.infosports.com/scor.../images/whipplus.pdf
What people don’t seem to understand is, if someone doesn’t believe the stat is truly reflective of something, they’re allowed to change it! I do that quite frequently, and as can be seen in the 1st page of the link, I’ve done it with WHIP, and I’ve added HBPs into the equation to make it WHIPPLUS. But you’ll also notice I also show the “standard” equation and result so people who don’t believe what I believe will not have my opinion forced on them.
Also, if you look at the 2nd page of the link, you’ll see my interpretation of what “Pitchers’ Mistakes” are. I think its important to look a players in as many ways as possible, and this is my way of adding another judgment method for pitchers. My point is, no one twists anyone’s arm to use any given stat exactly the way it was originally thought up. If you think HBPs should be computed into WHIP, do it yourself or ask your team’s statistician to do it for you. As you can see, its an easy thing to do.