Batting average is the number every young player knows — and the one parents get asked to explain first. The good news: it's one of the simplest stats to calculate.
Batting average (AVG) = hits ÷ at-bats. That's it. If a player has 12 hits in 40 at-bats, their average is 12 ÷ 40 = 0.300 — usually written and spoken as "three hundred."
This is where averages surprise parents. Not every trip to the plate is an at-bat. These do not count as at-bats, so they never lower the average:
So a patient hitter who draws lots of walks can have a modest batting average and still be genuinely valuable — which is exactly why coaches also look at on-base percentage.
Say your player comes to the plate 5 times in a game: a single, a strikeout, a walk, a groundout, and a double. The walk isn't an at-bat, so they had 4 at-bats and 2 hits — a 2 ÷ 4 = .500 day at the plate.
One game tells you almost nothing — averages swing wildly over small samples. What matters is the trend across a season. A .180 average that climbs to .280 over two months is a player who's improving, and that story only shows up when you track every game.
It depends heavily on age and level. For context, .300 is considered excellent in Major League Baseball and the league average is around .245–.250. For youth players, focus on the trend over a season rather than a single benchmark.
No. Walks are not at-bats, so they neither help nor hurt batting average. They do count toward on-base percentage.
The more the better — small samples swing wildly. Over a full season of dozens of at-bats, the average becomes a more reliable signal.