A Major League Baseball player’s performance in swinging the bat plays an important role in determining his value in helping his team win ball games. A player can play perfect defense, but if he can’t contribute on the offensive end of the field, he’s not as valuable as another player who swings the bat well. In baseball, that value is usually determined by a player’s batting average. Even if a player hits 50 home runs a season, if his batting average is, say, .150, then he’s still considered a weak component in the team’s hitting lineup. The way batting averages are calculated is quite simple. Simply take a player’s number of hits and divide it by his number of at-bats.
For example, if Derek Jeter hits 5 times and gets two hits in a single night, his batting average would look like this: 2 (hits) / 5 (at bats) = .400. Therefore, Throw hit .400 on the night.
One thing to keep in mind when determining a player’s average is exactly what is determined to be an “at bat.” If a player gets a walk or walk, it does not count towards a player’s batting average because it is not considered an at bat. Sacrifices also don’t count toward an at-bat because the hitter is missing his chance at the plate to move a runner into a better scoring position. Therefore, neither walks nor sacrifices count as an at bat. Strikeouts do count as an at bat and of course cause a batter’s batting average to drop because they are not considered a hit.
The only other thing to mention when calculating batting averages is determining what qualifies as a hit. A hit is a single, double, triple, or home run. Of course, a strikeout along with any ground or fly ball is also not considered a hit. Defensive errors also do not count as a hit, but they do count as an at bat because the runner is considered not to have reached base if not for the defensive error. So to make sure we all understand, let’s say, for example, Derek Jeter comes to the plate 5 times, then gets 2 walks, 2 hits, and gets on base on a defensive error. So the 2 walks are not considered at bats. So Jeter’s average on the night would look like this: 2 hits/3 at-bats equals a .666 batting average on the night. However, batting averages generally refer to a seasonal basis, so those numbers would be the number of hits divided by the number of at-bats during an entire season.
While home runs and runs batted in (RBI) are always attractive on the stat sheet, batting average is often the true measuring stick for any hitter and something to consider carefully when betting on baseball. On seasonal average, anything above the .300 mark is considered exceptional at the MLB level and no player has finished averaging .400 or higher since Ted Williams in 1941.