Batting Average Calculator
Calculate a player's batting average from hits and at-bats, the standard measure of hitting success in baseball and softball, with a quick rating against typical benchmarks.
Enter the number of hits and at-bats to calculate a batting average, the standard measure of a hitter's success rate in baseball and softball.
Understanding Batting Average
Batting average (AVG) measures how often a hitter gets a hit per official at-bat: AVG = Hits ÷ At-Bats. An at-bat excludes plate appearances that end in a walk, a hit-by-pitch, a sacrifice bunt or fly, or catcher's interference, since those outcomes aren't considered a fair test of a batter's hitting ability. Batting average is traditionally written as a three-digit decimal without the leading zero — a player who gets a hit in 3 out of every 10 at-bats has a .300 average, read aloud as 'three-hundred.'
In modern MLB, a batting average around .250 is roughly league average, .300 or higher is considered great, and anything above .320 over a full season is All-Star caliber. Averages below .200 are informally called the 'Mendoza Line,' named after infielder Mario Mendoza, and are usually a sign a hitter is at risk of losing their roster spot. At the top end, Ted Williams was the last player to bat over .400 in a season, hitting .406 in 1941, while Ty Cobb holds the highest career batting average in MLB history at .366.
Batting average has two well-known limitations: it doesn't give any credit for walks, even though drawing a walk gets a batter on base just as effectively as a single — that's what on-base percentage (OBP) measures instead. It also treats every hit the same, so a batter who hits only singles can have the same average as one who hits mostly doubles and home runs, even though the second batter creates far more offensive value — that's what slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging) are designed to capture.
Disclaimer: This calculator is provided for general informational and entertainment purposes only. For anything official, confirm the figure against your league's or governing body's official records.
Frequently Asked Questions
About this calculator
This calculator finds a player's batting average — the fraction of official at-bats that result in a hit — from hits and at-bats, showing the result in the traditional three-decimal format (e.g., .300) along with the formula and substitution used to calculate it. A quick rating puts the result in context against typical benchmarks, from below the 'Mendoza Line' up to All-Star caliber.
- Traditional formatting — Results are shown the way batting averages are traditionally written — three decimals with no leading zero, like .275 or .300.
- Step-by-step calculation — See the formula and the substituted values alongside the result, so it's clear exactly how the average was calculated.
- Instant performance rating — Every result includes a quick rating — from Poor to Excellent — based on typical batting average benchmarks in modern baseball.
- Built-in validation — The calculator checks that at-bats is greater than zero and that hits doesn't exceed at-bats, so results are always mathematically valid.
- Historical context included — The explainer covers what counts as an official at-bat, real benchmark numbers from MLB history, and why batting average alone doesn't capture the full offensive picture.