Slugging percentage
In baseball statistics,
slugging percentage is a popular measure of the power of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats: where
AB is the number of at-bats for a given player, and
1B,
2B,
3B, and
HR are the number of singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, respectively. Walks are specifically excluded from this calculation. The name is a misnomer, as the statistic is not a percentage but a scale of measure whose computed value is a rational number in the interval. For example, in 1920, Babe Ruth played his first season for the New York Yankees. In 458 at bats, Ruth had 172 hits, comprising 73 singles, 36 doubles, 9 triples, and 54 home runs, which brings the total base count to + + + = 388. His total number of bases divided by his total at-bats is.847, his slugging percentage for the season. The next year he slugged.846, and these records went unbroken until 2001, when Barry Bonds achieved 411 bases in 476 at-bats, bringing his slugging percentage to.863, unmatched since.