Baseball batting stats

The following details the different pieces of information listed about each player in the batting stat sheet shown above:

Position in the field (POS) – The position the player plays in the field
Games played (GP) – Number of games played
At bats (AB) – Number of plate appearances where one of the following doesn’t happen:
- They walk (receive a Base on balls (BB))
- They are Hit by a pitch (HBP)
- They hit a sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly
- They are sent to first base due to interference or obstruction (usually by the catcher)
- They are replaced by a different hitter before their at-bat is completed
- If the inning ends while they are still at-bat (for example, when a third out is made by catching a runner trying to steal)
Runs (R) – A player earns a run if he crosses home plate to score a run
Hits (H) – A hit occurs when a batter strikes the ball into fair territory and reaches base without there being an error by a fielder. There are four types of hits:
- Singles
- Doubles (2B)
- Triples (3B)
- Home runs (HR)
Batting average (AVG) – Batting average is one of the oldest and most universal stats to measure a hitter’s effectiveness. A player’s batting average is calculated by dividing his total number of hits by his total at-bats. This yields a number between zero (shown as .000) and one (1.000). In recent years, the league-wide batting average usually hovers around .250. That is the same as getting one hit for every four at-bats.
Runs batted in (RBI) – A batter earns an RBI when his at-bat results in a run being scored. The exceptions are that a player doesn’t receive an RBI when the run scores as a result of an error, or if he grounds into double play.
Total Bases (TB) – The total number of bases gained by a batter through his hits. A batter records one base for a single, two bases for a double, three bases for a triple, and four bases for a home run.
Strikeouts (K) – The number of times the player has struck out
Stolen bases (SB) – The number of bases the player has stolen
On-base percentage (OBP) – How frequently a batter gets on base per plate appearance
Slugging percentage (SLG) – A player’s slugging percentage represents the total number of bases a player records per at-bat. Slugging percentage is different from batting average in that all hits are not valued equally. While batting average is calculated by dividing the total number of hits by the total number of at-bats, the formula for slugging percentage is: (1B + 2Bx2 + 3Bx3 + HRx4)/AB. Slugging percentage is one of the best evaluators of a batter’s power.
On-base plus slugging (OPS) – OPS is calculated by adding the player’s on-base percentage and his slugging percentage together. It’s meant to combine how well a hitter can reach base with how much power he does so with.