Formulas?
It's those who fall in love with--and can't see past-- the batting average "formula" that aren't seeing the run production. Batting average is a primitive and lame stat (or formula).
In the past five years what Ranger has scored more runs and driven in more runs than Joey? I'll wait for a name.
Correct.
This is how I see hitting.
The most important thing a hitter can do is not "drive in a run", or "score a run" or even "get a hit", it's to not make an out.
Because the only thing that can end your inning (ie. your chance at scoring runs) is outs. The name of the game as a hitter is avoid outs at all costs (just like, conversely, the name of the game for pitchers is to get outs).
That's measured by OBP, not batting average.
It's not any formula or jumping through hoops any more so than batting average, it's just that OBP measures the right things, and batting average does not.
Batting average is among the most useless statistics in sports.
That's not to say just getting on base means that's "the best thing a hitter can do", that's a different thing.
Obviously the best thing a hitter can do is hit a home run. Second is hitting a triple, then double, then single, then walk. These are all good outcomes though. And the point is
that includes walks.
Fortunately there's a stat that measures how well you maximize your at bat, and it's called slugging percentage, which is another important stat.
The best hitters are high in both OBP and slugging percentage. In other words, they are good at avoiding outs and also good at maximizing their at bats.
And when you add how well a hitter avoids outs with how well he maximizes his at bats, you get OPS.
For my money, OPS is probably the single best, most precise and accurate measure of how good a hitter is. It's not everything because nothing is, but it takes you a long way to understanding how good a hitter is.
I like OPS+ because it gives you better context and is easier to understand what's good and what's not.
This is all simple logic, it's not hocus pocus or anything else. People get caught up in the archaic notions they grew up with though.