A run scored is credited to the player who touches home plate. It is the currency the whole game is played in — every other offensive stat is a proxy for producing runs.

As an individual measure it has the same flaw as RBI, pointed the other way. You score when someone else drives you in, so a leadoff hitter in front of a strong lineup accumulates runs that a better hitter on a worse team never gets the chance to. Speed helps at the margins; batting order and teammates matter more.

What the hitter controls is the first half: getting on base. That is why NUT is built on wOBA, which counts every way of reaching. A player with 70 runs and a .390 on-base percentage produced more than a player with 95 runs and a .310 on-base percentage — the second one just had better company.

What is a good R?

Runs scored is not an input to NUT. Getting on base is, and it is the half of run-scoring a hitter actually controls.

Updated live during the season.

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