Batting Average

Calculating a baseball player's batting average is not a difficult task at all. A batting average represents the percentage of at bats that result in hits for a particular baseball player. The formula is:

Hits / At Bats = Batting Avg.

That's all there is to it. For example, if Barry Bonds gets 195 hits in a season and has 535 at bats, his batting average would be 195/535, or .364. The batting average is usually represented not as a percentage (i.e. 36.4%), but instead as a decimal number with three places after the decimal. A batting average of 1.000 means that the player gets a hit every time he comes to bat, and an average of .000 means the player has no hits.

It should also be noted that not every time a batter comes to the plate counts as an at bat. Plate appearances that do not count as at bats include walks, hit-by-pitches, sacrifices, etc.

Here's one last example: Sammy Sosa gets 25 hits in 113 at bats in May, so his batting average would be calculated as 25 divided by 113, which is .221 for the month of May.