In
baseball statistics
Baseball statistics play an important role in evaluating the progress of a player or team.
Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itsel ...
, batting average against (denoted by BAA or AVG), also known as opponents' batting average (denoted by OBA), is a statistic that measures a
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
's ability to prevent
hits during official
at bats. It can alternatively be described as the league's hitters' combined
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
against the pitcher.
Definition
Batting average against is calculated as:
for which:
*H is the number of
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
s allowed by the pitcher
*BF is the number of
batters faced In baseball statistics, Batters Faced (BF), also known as Total Batters Faced (TBF) or Batters Facing Pitcher (BFP) is the number of batters who made a plate appearance before the pitcher in a game or in a season.
For a given game, the number of ...
*BB is the number of
base on balls
*HBP is the number of
hit batsmen
In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...
*SH is the number of
sacrifice hit
In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, an ...
s
*SF is the number of
sacrifice flies
In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d):
"Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...
*CINT is the number of
catcher's interference
In baseball, interference occurs in situations in which a person illegally changes the course of play from what is expected. Interference might be committed by players on the offense, players not currently in the game, catchers, umpires, or spec ...
For example, if a pitcher faced 125 batters and allowed 25 hits, issued 8 walks, hit 1 batsman, allowed 2 sacrifice hits, allowed 3 sacrifice flies, and had 1 instance of catcher's interference, the pitcher's BAA would be calculated as:
Reference site
Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...
more simply defines BAA as hits divided by
at bats, as "at bats" for a pitcher equates to the above noted denominator (batters faced less walks, hit by pitch, sacrifice hits, sacrifice flies, and catcher's interference):
[
For example, in 2021, ]Max Scherzer
Maxwell Martin Scherzer (born July 27, 1984) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, and L ...
had the best (lowest) batting average against in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
among qualified pitchers. Scherzer's BAA for the 2021 season was:[
]
See also
*Hits per nine innings
In baseball statistics, hits per nine innings (denoted by H/9) is the average number of hits allowed by a pitcher in a nine inning period; calculated as: (hits allowed x 9) / innings pitched. This is a measure of a pitcher's success based on the n ...
(H/9)
*Walks plus hits per inning pitched
In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and divid ...
(WHIP)
Notes
References
External links
OBA Calculator
at captaincalculator.com
Pitching statistics
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