MSL’s Easy Peasy Batting Average Calculator

We’ve created an easy-to-use page complete with a series of calculators that can easily help you breakdown official team and individual averages. With the batting average average, you’ll easily be able to figure out how strong of a hitter your team (and your players) are. Check out the FAQs below to learn specifics about each of the percentages.

BATTING AVG. (BA)

FAQs

Calculate Your Batting Average

A powerfully easy to use tool that allows captains and scorekeepers of the Manchester Softball League to calculate how well they are doing offensively. Calculate team or individual player batting averages just by entering the number of hits and the number of at-bats, click the button, and see your batting average – it’s that simple!

HITS

AT-BATS

What is the Difference Between an At-Bat and a Plate Appearance?

Very good question: in a nutshell, both statistics signify a batting result for when a batter came to the plate. But certain results don’t count as an at-bat, whereas every result does count as a plate appearance.

Here are some quick definitions of what constitutes both an at-bat (AB) and plate appearance (PA):

– An at-bat consists of a batting result that ends in any of the following: a hit (be it a single, double, triple or home run), an error, or an out (excluding sacrifices).
– A plate appearance consists of all of the above, plus batting results that end in walks and outs (including sacrifices).

REMEMBER: ABs are very specific batting results. PAs are absolutely every possible batting result.

EXAMPLE #1:
Manny Chester of the Didsbury Berries came to bat six times in a game Tuesday against the Cheadle Beatles. Manny finished with two singles, a walk, a groundout to second base, a home run and a sacrifice fly to left centre field.

Manny’s final tally for Tuesday consisted of:
– 3 hits
– 1 walk
– 1 sacrifice
– 1 out
– 4 times on base (i.e. 3 hits and 1 walk)
– 6 total bases (i.e. 2 by way of a single and 4 by way of a home run)
– 4 at bats (i.e. 3 hits and 1 out)
– 6 plate appearances (i.e. 3 hits, 1 out, 1 walk, 1 sacrifice)

THEREFORE:
– His batting average for the game was .750 = 3 hits / 4 at-bats.
– His on-base pct for the game is .667 = 4 times on base / 6 plate appearances.
– His slugging pct for the game is 1.500 = 6 total bases / 4 at-bats.

What is a Sacrifice?

For statistical purposes, a sacrifice in MSL consists of a scenario when a batter comes to the plate with a teammate on third base and less than two outs. The batter hits a fly ball that is caught, and the runner tags up from third base and safely crosses home plate to score a run. In essence, the batter has sacrificed themselves in order for the team to score another run.

Please Note: This scenario only applies in the case of caught fly balls, not fielded ground balls that lead to an out at any base except for the runner scoring from third.

What Does Batting Average Signify?

Batting average tallies how well a batter or a team succeeds in safely hitting pitches. It signifies bat control, and the ability of a hitter to swing at a pitch and find gaps in the defence when they swing at a pitch.

Which Of These Figures Matters Most?

There really is no right or wrong answer to whether Batting Average, OBP or SLG is the most important statistic. Opinions vary, and they often rely on things that you cannot control: how a defence is positioned for a given batter, for example, can mean the difference between a well-placed hit and an unlucky out. With OBP, Jill might see nothing but pitches that land outside the strike zone, whilst Bill might see nothing but pitches that land in the strikes.

Situations dictate statistics in slow-pitch. Above all, the ability to have a feel for how well your team and the individuals within the team are doing matters just as much as what the numbers say. They’re a guide, but by no means are they a “Be All, End All.”

Numbers That End 0.333 Don’t Really Compute For Me and My Team. Can We Figure Out How this Breaks Down as a Percent Figure?

In truth, batting averages (and later OBP and SLG) evolved from 19th Century baseball statisticians that were making it up as they went. Although they’ve definitely evolved, it’s hard to understand what it means in a real-world sense. So yes: we freely admit that 33% tells the story more effectively than 0.333.

So let’s make it simple. When you have a batting average of .333, simply move the decimal two places to the right. Now, you have a percent (%) figure.

EXAMPLE #3
Manny Chester had a .333 batting average. So, just move the decimal point to the right two places on that figure, and you’ll get the following:
– Manny has a batting % of 33.3% (or 33% if you’re not a fan of decimals)

How Do Errors Figure into All of This?

First of all: you keep track of errors?!?! Applause for the dedication, but…wow.

In all seriousness, errors factor into batting average thusly: it’s an at-bat, but not a hit. So if you had four at-bats and reached base four times by error? You’d finish that game with a .000 batting average, or 0 for 4.

And for On-Base Percentage aficionados: yes, an error counts as a plate appearance, but not as a plate appearance in which the batter reaches a base. Using the same example, you’d have a .000 on-base percentage (and that remains the case even if you managed to score four runs). As Ray Kinsella said in Field of Dreams, we have created something totally illogical.

CREDITS FOR THESE FAQs AND ANSWERS

Dan Strayer