Batting Average Calculator
Enter your hits and at-bats (or runs and dismissals for cricket) to get your batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS in one place. Switch sports, reverse-solve for the hits you need to hit a target average, or browse the built-in performance benchmarks for every level of play.
Formula
Worked example
A player with 45 hits in 150 at-bats: BA = 45 / 150 = 0.300, exactly the gold-standard threshold. Adding 12 walks and 2 HBP over 2 SF: OBP = (45+12+2)/(150+12+2+2) = 59/166 = 0.355. With 30 singles, 8 doubles, 3 triples, 4 HR: total bases = 30+16+9+16 = 71, SLG = 71/150 = 0.473, OPS = 0.355+0.473 = 0.828 (above average).
What batting average measures and why it matters
Batting average (BA) is the oldest and most recognizable offensive statistic in baseball. It answers one simple question: what fraction of official at-bats result in a hit? A hit is any fair ball that allows the batter to reach base safely without an error or fielder's choice. Walks, hit-by-pitch, sacrifice bunts, and sacrifice flies do not count as at-bats, so they do not affect the average. A player who goes 1-for-4 in a game (one hit in four official at-bats) contributes .250 for that game. Over a full 162-game MLB season, the best hitters in baseball cluster around .280 to .330; only the very best approach or cross the .350 threshold. A career .300 average is the informal benchmark for Hall of Fame consideration as a pure hitter.
OBP, slugging, and OPS: why BA alone is not enough
Batting average only counts hits; it gives equal weight to a bloop single and a line-drive home run, and it completely ignores walks. On-base percentage (OBP) fixes the first blind spot by adding walks and hit-by-pitch to the numerator and plate appearances to the denominator, capturing every way a batter avoids an out. Slugging percentage (SLG) fixes the second blind spot by weighting hits by the number of bases they produce: a double counts twice as much as a single, a home run four times as much. OPS (on-base plus slugging) adds OBP and SLG into a single number that correlates strongly with runs scored and is widely used as a quick summary of offensive value. A league-average OPS is roughly 0.720-0.740 in the MLB; above 0.800 is above average; 0.900 is excellent; 1.000 is elite.
How to use the reverse-solve feature
The reverse-solve section answers a practical question: how many hits do I need over my remaining at-bats to reach a target average? Enter your current hits and at-bats, set your target average (such as 0.300), and estimate how many more at-bats you expect this season. The calculator finds the minimum integer hits required and the batting average you would need to post over those remaining at-bats. If the required per-remaining-AB average comes out above 1.000, the target is mathematically impossible no matter how well you hit: the total number of projected at-bats is not large enough to pull the cumulative average up to your goal, so you would need to revise the target or add more at-bats. The end-of-season projection table lists every scenario from hitting 0 for the rest of the season to hitting 1.000, so you can see the full range of possible outcomes.
Cricket batting average: a different calculation
In cricket, batting average equals total runs scored divided by the number of times the batter was dismissed (innings batted minus not-out innings). A batter who finishes an innings without being dismissed does not lose a "life," so not-outs are excluded from the denominator. This inflates averages compared to what a dismissed-every-time player would achieve, and it explains why Don Bradman's career average of 99.94 in Test cricket is considered essentially unreachable: he scored 6,996 runs over 80 innings with 10 not-outs, giving 6,996 / 70 dismissals = 99.94. A Test average above 50 places a batter in the top tier of all time. For domestic and club cricket, averages tend to be lower because pitches are more varied and bowlers are stronger relative to the standard of batting.
Batting Average Benchmarks by Level
| Level / Sport | Poor | Average | Good | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB (baseball) | Below .200 | .240-.269 | .270-.299 | .300+ |
| NCAA College (baseball) | Below .240 | .270-.299 | .300-.329 | .350+ |
| High School (baseball) | Below .250 | .280-.309 | .320-.349 | .380+ |
| Fastpitch Softball | Below .250 | .280-.310 | .330-.370 | .400+ |
| Slowpitch Softball | Below .500 | .600-.699 | .700-.799 | .800+ |
| First-class Cricket | Below 20 | 25-34 | 40-49 | 50+ |
| Test Cricket career | Below 25 | 30-39 | 45-54 | 55+ |
Widely accepted performance tiers for baseball, softball, and cricket. MLB figures reflect recent full seasons.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good batting average in baseball?
In Major League Baseball, a .300 batting average is generally considered elite and is the informal benchmark for a "pure hitter." An average between .270 and .299 is above average, .240 to .269 is around the league mean, and anything below .220 is considered poor. These benchmarks shift for different levels: a .280 average in high school ball is solid, while the same mark in the MLB is roughly average.
What is the difference between at-bats and plate appearances?
A plate appearance includes every time a batter comes to the plate: hits, outs, walks, hit-by-pitch, sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies, and catcher's interference. An at-bat is a subset of plate appearances: it excludes walks, hit-by-pitch, sacrifice bunts, and sacrifice flies. Batting average uses at-bats, not plate appearances, as its denominator, so working a walk or laying down a sacrifice does not lower your average.
What does OPS measure and how is it calculated?
OPS stands for on-base plus slugging. It adds your on-base percentage (OBP) and slugging percentage (SLG) together. OBP = (Hits + Walks + Hit by Pitch) / (At-Bats + Walks + Hit by Pitch + Sacrifice Flies). SLG = Total Bases / At-Bats. OPS is not a perfect metric (the two components use different denominators), but it is a fast, useful summary: OPS above 0.800 is above average in the MLB, above 0.900 is very good, and above 1.000 is elite.
How is batting average calculated in cricket?
Cricket batting average = Total Runs / (Total Innings - Not Outs). If a batter scored 480 runs over 16 innings with 2 not-outs, their average is 480 / (16 - 2) = 480 / 14 = 34.3. Not-outs are subtracted from the denominator because the batter never had the chance to be dismissed in those innings, so counting them would unfairly lower the average.
Can batting average ever be above 1.000?
No. A batting average above 1.000 is mathematically impossible because you cannot have more hits than at-bats. The all-time single-season MLB record is .440 by Hugh Duffy in 1894. In the modern era (1900 onward), the record is .426 by Nap Lajoie in 1901. The highest BA over a full modern season is .406, set by Ted Williams in 1941 - the last time any MLB player batted over .400 for a full season.
What does the target average reverse-solve calculate?
The reverse-solve feature answers: "If I want to finish the season batting .300, how many hits do I need over my remaining at-bats?" It works by computing the total hits required (target BA x total projected AB) and subtracting your current hits. The result is rounded up to the nearest whole number, since partial hits are not possible. If the required hit rate over remaining at-bats is greater than 1.000, the target is mathematically impossible with the projected at-bats you entered, and you would need to lower your target or play more games.
How does the slugging percentage weight different hits?
Slugging percentage counts total bases, not total hits. A single = 1 base, a double = 2 bases, a triple = 3 bases, and a home run = 4 bases. So a home run is worth exactly four times as much as a single in the slugging formula. A player who hits 30 singles, 8 doubles, 3 triples, and 4 home runs has 30 + 16 + 9 + 16 = 71 total bases. Over 150 at-bats that is a slugging percentage of 71/150 = .473, which is above average for the MLB.