baseball statistics Baseball statistics include a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the sport of baseball. Because the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and player activity is characteristically distinguishable ind ...

, 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 ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

's ability to prevent

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

during official

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s. 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:

BAA = \frac

for which: *H is the number of hits allowed by the pitcher *BF is the number of batters faced *BB is the number of

base on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...

*HBP is the number of

hit batsmen In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter (baseball), 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 f ...

*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, a ...

s *SF is the number of sacrifice flies *CINT is the number of catcher's interference 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:

BAA = \frac = \frac = .227

Reference site Baseball-Reference.com more simply defines BAA as hits divided by

s, 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):

BAA = \frac

For example, in 2021,

Max Scherzer Maxwell Martin Scherzer (born July 27, 1984), nicknamed "Mad Max", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tige ...

had the best (lowest) batting average against in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

among qualified pitchers. Scherzer's BAA for the 2021 season was:

BAA = \frac = \frac = .185

Notes

References

External links

OBA Calculator
at captaincalculator.com Pitching statistics {{baseball-stub

Definition

See also

Notes

References

External links