Batting average

Batting average, abbreviated BA, is the number of hits gotten by a player divided by his number of at bats. Batting average has long been viewed as the primary measure of a batter's skill, so that the batting title is awarded to the batter with the highest average, rather than to one who scores or drives in the most runs. Advocates of sabermetrics have challenged the primacy of batting average, but it remains the key batting statistic in the eyes of most fans and players.

When the concept of the batting average was invented, in the middle of the 19th century, pitchers threw slowly enough that there were few walks given (3.5% in 1871 as opposed to 8.6% in 2023), and so batting average was closer to on-base percentage. In addition, there were fewer extra-base hits(26.4% in 1871 as opposed to 36.2% in 2023), so batting average and slugging percentage were much closer than today. As a result, batting average was a much more meaningful statistic in the days of Henry Chadwick than it is today.

At bats are the total of hits and outs. The total does not include walks, times hit by pitch, sacrifice hits, nor sacrifice flies.

All Time Leaders
Span	Player	Total	Notes
MLB Career	Ty Cobb	.367
Season	Hugh Duffy	.438	1894
Season (since 1901)	Nap Lajoie	.426	1901
Pro Career	Ox Eckhardt	.366
Minor League Career	Ike Boone	.370
Minor League Season	Willie Aikens	.454	1986; full-season record
Minor League Season	Gary Redus	.462	1978; short-season record
NPB Career	Leron Lee	.320	4,000 AB min.
NPB Career	Ichiro Suzuki	.353	2,000 AB min.
NPB Season	Randy Bass	.389	1986
Cuban National League Career	Osmani Urrutia	.370	through 2006-2007
Cuban National League Season	Osmani Urrutia	.469	2003-2004
KBO Season	Jinten Haku	.412	1982
Italian Career	Giorgio Castelli	.421
Italian Season	Giorgio Castelli	.510	1978
AAGPBL Career	Joanne Weaver	.359	1,000 AB min.
AAGPBL Season	Joanne Weaver	.429	1954

Further Reading

• Douglas Jordan and David Macias: "Team batting Average: A Comprehensive Analysis", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 48, Number 1 (Spring 2019), pp. 64-69.
• Herm Krabbenhoft: "Emeritus Members of the Career .300 Hitters Club (1920-2022)", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 51, Number 2 (Fall 2022), pp. 19-25.

See Also

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• Career Leaders for Batting Average