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In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This happens when he strikes out or is declared
out Out may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...
before reaching first base; or when he reaches first base safely or is awarded first base (by a base on balls,
hit by pitch 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 ...
,
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 ...
, or obstruction); or when he hits a fair ball which causes a preceding runner to be put out for the third out before he himself is put out or reaches first base safely (''see also''
left on base L lace :To reach base by hitting a ball between infielders. "McCann laced it through the shift on the right side of the infield." Lady Godiva :A pitch delivered with nothing on it. A nod to the legend of Lady Godiva riding naked on horseback. ...
, fielder's choice, force play). A very similar statistic, at bats, counts a subset of plate appearances that end under certain circumstances.


Use as batting record qualifier

While at bats are used to calculate batting averages, slugging percentages, plate appearances have no such statistical value. However, at season's end, a player must have accumulated 3.1 times the number of games scheduled for each team (502 plate appearances for a 162-game season) during a season to be ranked in any of these categories. For example, suppose Player A, with 510 plate appearances and 400 at bats, gets 100 hits during the season and finishes with a .250 batting average. And suppose Player B, with 490 plate appearances and 400 at bats, gets 110 hits during the season and finishes the season with a .275 batting average. Player B, even though he had the same amount of at bats as Player A and even though his batting average is higher, will not be eligible for season-ending rankings because he did not accumulate the required 502 plate appearances, while Player A did and therefore will be eligible.Baseball Explained by Phillip Mahony. McFarland Books, 2014. Se
www.baseballexplained.com


Exception for batting titles

Rule 9.22(a) of the Official Baseball Rules make a single allowance to the minimum requirement of 502 plate appearances for the purposes of determining the batting, slugging or on-base percentage title. If a player: * leads the league in one of the statistics; * does not have the required 502 plate appearances; and * would still lead the league in that statistic if as many at bats (without hits or reaching base) were added to his records as necessary to meet the requirement, he will win that title, but with his original statistic (before the extra at bats were added). In the example above, Player B is 12 plate appearances short of the required 502, but were he be charged with 12 additional at bats, he would go 110-for-412 for a batting average of .267. If no one else has a batting average (similarly modified if appropriate) higher than .267, player B will be awarded the batting title (with his original batting average of .275) despite the lack of 502 plate appearances. In a real-life example, in 2012,
Melky Cabrera Melky Cabrera Astacio (born August 11, 1984), nicknamed The Melkman, is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue ...
, then of the
San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...
, finished the season with a league-high .346 batting average, but he had only 501 plate appearances, one short of the required 502. Per the rule, he would have won the batting title because after an extra at bat is added and his batting average recalculated, he still would have led the league in batting average. Cabrera's case, however, turned out differently. The reason Cabrera finished the season with only 501 at bats was because he was suspended in mid-August when he tested positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Cabrera was still eligible for that extra plate appearance, but he requested that the extra plate appearance not be added to his total, and that he not be considered for the batting crown, because he admitted that his use of performance-enhancing drugs had given him an unfair advantage over other players. As a result, Cabrera's name is nowhere to be found on the list of 2012 National League batting leaders.


Scoring

A batter is not credited with a plate appearance if, while batting, a preceding runner is put out on the basepaths for the third out in a way other than by the batter putting the ball into play (i.e., picked off,
caught stealing In baseball, a runner is charged, and the fielders involved are credited, with a time caught stealing when the runner attempts to advance or lead off from one base to another without the ball being batted and then is tagged out by a fielder whil ...
). In this case, the same batter continues his turn batting in the next inning with no balls or strikes against him. A batter is not credited with a plate appearance if, while batting, the game ends as the winning run scores from third base on a balk,
stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe o ...
,
wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third str ...
or
passed ball In baseball, a catcher is charged with a passed ball when he fails to hold or control a legally pitched ball that, with ordinary effort, should have been maintained under his control, and, as a result of this loss of control, the batter or a ru ...
. A batter may or may not be credited with a plate appearance (and possibly at bat) in the rare instance when he is replaced by a pinch hitter after having already started his turn at bat. Under Rule 9.15(b), the pinch hitter would receive the plate appearance (and potential of an at-bat) unless the original batter is replaced when having 2 strikes against him and the pinch hitter subsequently completes the strikeout, in which case the plate appearance and at-bat are charged to the first batter.


Relation to at bat

Under Official Baseball Rule 9.02(a)(1), an at bat results from a completed plate appearance, unless the batter: * hits a sacrifice bunt or
sacrifice fly 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 ...
; or * is awarded first base on four called balls; or * is hit by a pitched ball; or * is awarded first base because of interference or obstruction. In common terminology, the term "at bat" is sometimes used to mean "plate appearance" (for example, "he fouled off the ball to keep the ''at bat'' alive"). The intent is usually clear from the context, although the term "official at bat" is sometimes used to explicitly refer to an ''at bat'' as distinguished from a ''plate appearance''. However, terms such as ''turn at bat'' or ''time at bat'' are synonymous with ''plate appearance''.


"Time at bat" in the rulebook

Official Baseball Rule 5.06(c) provides that " batter has legally completed his ''time at bat'' when he is put out or becomes a runner" (emphasis added). The "time at bat" defined in this rule is more commonly referred to as a plate appearance, and the playing rules (Rules 1 through 8) uses the phrase "time at bat" in this sense (e.g. Rule 5.04(a)(3), which states that " e first batter in each inning after the first inning shall be the player whose name follows that of the last player who legally completed his ''time at bat'' in the preceding inning" (emphasis added)). In contrast, the scoring rules uses the phrase "time at bat" to refer to the statistic at bat, defined in Rule 9.02(a)(1), but sometimes uses the phrase "official time at bat" or refers back to Rule 9.02(a)(1) when mentioning the statistic. The phrase "plate appearance" is used in Rules 9.22 and 9.23 dealing with batting titles and hitting streaks, and in Rule 5.10(g) Comment in relation to the Three-Batter Minimum: " qualify as one of three consecutive batters, the batter must complete his ''plate appearance'', which ends only when the batter is put out or becomes a runner." (emphasis added) The term is not elsewhere defined in the rulebook.


Other uses

It is often erroneously cited that total plate appearances is the denominator used in calculating on-base percentage (OBP), an alternative measurement of a player's offensive performance; in reality, the OBP denominator does ''not'' include certain plate appearances, such as times reached via either catcher's interference or fielder's obstruction or sacrifice bunts. The denominator is actually defined as the sum of at-bats, walks, hit-by-pitches, and sacrifice flies. Plate appearances are also used by scorers for "proving" a box score. Under Rule 9.03(c), the following two items should be equal for each team, because each is equal to the team's total number of plate appearances: * The sum of the team's at bats, walks, hit by pitches, sacrifices (both bunts and flies), and times awarded first base on interference or obstruction. * The sum of the team's runs, runners
left on base L lace :To reach base by hitting a ball between infielders. "McCann laced it through the shift on the right side of the infield." Lady Godiva :A pitch delivered with nothing on it. A nod to the legend of Lady Godiva riding naked on horseback. ...
, and men put out.


Major League Baseball leaders


References


{{DEFAULTSORT:Plate Appearance Batting statistics