1. What is Batting Average?

Batting average (BA) is a statistic in baseball that measures a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat. It is one of the oldest and most traditional metrics for evaluating hitters.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the batting average equation:

Where:

• \( BA \) — Batting average (dimensionless)
• \( H \) — Hits (dimensionless)
• \( AB \) — At bats (dimensionless)

Explanation: The equation simply divides the number of hits by the number of official at bats. The result is typically expressed to three decimal places.

3. Importance of Batting Average

Details: While modern baseball analytics have introduced more sophisticated metrics, batting average remains a fundamental statistic for evaluating hitter performance and is still widely referenced in player evaluations and baseball discussions.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter whole numbers for hits and at bats. At bats must be greater than 0. The result will be displayed in standard baseball format (e.g., .300 for a 30% success rate).

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What is considered a good batting average?
A: In modern MLB, .300 is considered excellent, .270-.299 is good, .250-.269 is average, and below .250 is below average.

Q2: What's not counted as an at bat?
A: Walks, hit-by-pitches, sacrifices, and catcher's interference are not counted as at bats.

Q3: What's the highest possible batting average?
A: 1.000 (a hit every at bat), though this is only theoretically possible in very small samples.

Q4: Who holds the MLB career batting average record?
A: Ty Cobb holds the modern era record with a .366 career average.

Q5: Why isn't batting average the best metric for hitter evaluation?
A: It doesn't account for walks, extra-base hits, or situational hitting, which is why metrics like OBP and OPS are now also widely used.