BABIP explained
BABIP is batting average on balls in play: (H − HR) ÷ (AB − K − HR + SF). It strips out the two outcomes a defence cannot affect — home runs and strikeouts — and asks what happened to everything the batter actually put into the field of play.
Because where a batted ball lands depends heavily on positioning and on the fielders, a BABIP far from a player’s own career figure usually signals a run of luck rather than a change in skill. It is read alongside the batting average, not instead of it.
OBP vs batting average: what is the difference?
Batting average counts only hits, over at-bats. On-base percentage counts every way a batter reaches base without making an out — hits, walks and hit-by-pitch — over at-bats plus walks, hit-by-pitch and sacrifice flies.
The practical consequence: a walk does nothing to a batting average, because it is not an at-bat, but it raises OBP. A patient hitter can therefore carry a modest average and a strong OBP, and the gap between the two numbers is a reasonable read on how often they take a walk.
What is a sacrifice fly in scoring?
A sacrifice fly is a fly ball caught for an out on which a runner scores. In scoring it is not charged as an at-bat, so it does not lower the batting average — but it is counted in the denominator of on-base percentage, so it does lower OBP.
That asymmetry is deliberate: the batter gave up their own chance at a hit to bring a run in, so the average does not punish them, while OBP measures reaching base and they did not reach base. Sacrifice bunts are excluded from both.
Batting Average Calculator
Batting average is hits divided by at-bats (AVG = H / AB). Enter your hits and at-bats below for AVG, and add walks, hit-by-pitch and total bases for OBP, SLG and OPS. The same formulas are used in baseball and softball.
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Reference Benchmarks
| Rating | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .320+ | .400+ | .550+ | .900+ | |
| .300 | .370 | .500 | .850 | |
| .280 | .340 | .450 | .780 | |
| .250 | .320 | .400 | .720 | |
| <.230 | <.300 | <.350 | <.670 |
Formulas
Hits and At-Bats: What the Average Comes Out To
Every number here is the calculator above doing the division — hits down the side, at-bats across the top. Find the row for your hit total and read across to the column closest to your at-bats. It shows how much one more hit moves the average at each workload: at 600 at-bats a single hit is worth under two points, at 300 it is worth more than three.
| Hits | 300 AB | 400 AB | 500 AB | 600 AB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 hits | .067 | .050 | .040 | .033 |
| 30 hits | .100 | .075 | .060 | .050 |
| 40 hits | .133 | .100 | .080 | .067 |
| 50 hits | .167 | .125 | .100 | .083 |
| 60 hits | .200 | .150 | .120 | .100 |
| 70 hits | .233 | .175 | .140 | .117 |
| 80 hits | .267 | .200 | .160 | .133 |
| 90 hits | .300 | .225 | .180 | .150 |
| 100 hits | .333 | .250 | .200 | .167 |
| 110 hits | .367 | .275 | .220 | .183 |
| 120 hits | .400 | .300 | .240 | .200 |
| 130 hits | .433 | .325 | .260 | .217 |
| 140 hits | .467 | .350 | .280 | .233 |
| 150 hits | .500 | .375 | .300 | .250 |
| 160 hits | .533 | .400 | .320 | .267 |
| 180 hits | .600 | .450 | .360 | .300 |
| 200 hits | .667 | .500 | .400 | .333 |
표의 모든 값은 이 페이지의 계산기가 직접 계산한 결과입니다 · AVG = H / AB · walks, hit-by-pitch and sacrifice flies do not change it
Free baseball batting average calculator. Calculate AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS from your at-bat stats. Includes rating benchmarks for each statistic.
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Sources
Definitions used here — what counts as an at-bat, and how average, on-base percentage and slugging are formed — follow MLB's official glossary.
Links checked 2026-09-09.
Frequently asked questions
Do walks lower my batting average?
No. Batting average is hits divided by at-bats, and a walk is not an at-bat, so it changes neither number. Walks do raise on-base percentage, which this calculator reports separately.
What is the difference between AVG, OBP and SLG?
AVG counts hits per at-bat. OBP adds walks and hit-by-pitch to both sides, so it measures how often you reach base. SLG weights hits by bases — a double counts twice, a home run four times — so it measures power.
How much does one more hit move my average?
It depends on your at-bats, and the table below shows exactly how much. At 600 at-bats one hit is worth under two points; at 300 at-bats the same hit is worth more than three.
How to figure a batting average by hand
Batting average is one division: hits divided by at-bats. Count the hits, count the at-bats, divide, and round to three decimal places. Baseball writes the result without a leading zero, so 0.281 is written .281 and read “two eighty-one”.
Worked example: a player with 45 hits in 160 at-bats has 45 ÷ 160 = 0.28125, which rounds to .281. Add one more hit without another at-bat and it becomes 46 ÷ 160 = .288; add one more at-bat without a hit and it drops to 45 ÷ 161 = .280. Late in a season a single plate appearance moves the third decimal, which is why averages are quoted to three places rather than two.
| Hits | At-bats | Average | Reads as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 160 | .281 | two eighty-one |
| 50 | 180 | .278 | two seventy-eight |
| 60 | 200 | .300 | three hundred |
| 75 | 250 | .300 | three hundred |
| 32 | 145 | .221 | two twenty-one |
What counts as an at-bat, and what does not
The denominator is the reason two players with the same number of hits can have very different averages. A plate appearance is not automatically an at-bat. These are excluded from at-bats entirely:
Walks (base on balls), hit by pitch, sacrifice flies, sacrifice bunts, and catcher’s interference. None of them raises or lowers a batting average — they simply do not appear in the calculation. That is the practical difference between batting average and on-base percentage: OBP puts walks and hit-by-pitch back into both the top and the bottom of the fraction, so a patient hitter who rarely swings can carry a modest average and a strong OBP.
Reaching base on an error is an at-bat and is not a hit, so it lowers the average. A fielder’s choice is the same.
BABIP, and why it is calculated separately
BABIP is batting average on balls in play. It removes the outcomes a defence cannot touch — home runs and strikeouts — and asks what happened to everything the batter actually put into the field of play:
BABIP = (H − HR) ÷ (AB − K − HR + SF)
A player whose BABIP sits far from their own career figure is usually having a run of luck in one direction, because where a batted ball lands depends heavily on positioning and on the fielders. It is a context number, not a skill number, which is why it is read alongside the average rather than instead of it.
More answers
Does a walk lower your batting average?
No. A walk is not an at-bat, so it changes neither the numerator nor the denominator. It raises on-base percentage and leaves the average exactly where it was.
How many at-bats before the number means anything?
There is no official threshold for a batting average, but the swing from a single at-bat shrinks as the denominator grows. At 50 at-bats one hit moves the average by about twenty points; at 500 it moves it by two. Season leaderboards use a plate-appearance minimum for exactly this reason.
Why is .300 the benchmark?
It is a round number that has historically separated the best hitters in a league from the rest, not a rule. The benchmark table above is a rule of thumb for reading a line, not an official standard.
Is the formula the same for softball?
Yes. AVG, OBP, SLG and OPS are calculated identically in baseball and softball, and the same exclusions apply to at-bats.