Any WHIP under 1.000 is a superstar mark for pitchers at the major league level.

In fact, across most of MLB history, a sub-one WHIP would have allowed you to lead your league, though no one really talked about — or even knew about — WHIP before the Sabermetrics craze of the 21st century.

That fact naturally leads to a few questions …

What is WHIP?

WHIP stands for “walks and hits per inning pitched” and measures the number of baserunners that a pitcher allows, particularly those for which he is directly responsible. That is, WHIP does not take into account batters who reach base via error, hit-by pitch, dropped third strike, etc.

What is an average WHIP?

The average season-long WHIP in Major League Baseball has ranged from around 1.1 up to about 1.5 , though modern pitchers tend to be more tightly bunched between 1.2 and 1.4.