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My MLB Stat: Plate Appearance %

Cam Giangrande

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - APRIL 20: Bobby Witt Jr. #7 of the Kansas City Royals hits an infield single during the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Kauffman Stadium on April 20, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)

A while back, I invented a stat. I’m not claiming to be Dan Okrent; my stat isn’t part of the lexicon…yet. The stat is an amalgamation of plate appearances and total bases. But since walks don’t count towards total bases, they needed to be included in my formula. And, if a player steals a base it doesn’t increase their total bases, so I include steals onto their TB numbers. Actually, I include their net SB totals, because while a successful steal gets them closer to home, an unsuccessful steal takes them off the bases.

The main purpose was to find a ratio that would best represent a player’s value when he gets into the batter’s box, and how likely he is to score. So, for instance, every time a batter goes to the plate, he has the potential to hit a HR;  which is four total bases. A perfect plate appearance %, (PA%), would be four. But that, of course, isn’t realistic. A solid Major League hitter’s PA% is .500. For reference, the best career PA% all-time is Babe Ruth, which is .740. To put that figure in perspective, Mike Trout’s career PA% is .655. Aaron Judge’s is .667. And the great Shohei Ohtani’s career PA% is .647.

But, for fantasy purposes, creating a stat to reinforce the greatness of Trout, Judge, or Ohtani, is somewhat meaningless. The beauty of this stat is to identify those players who may not get the same amount of playing time, and plate appearances. There’s a good chance that if a part-time player performs, he’ll get more playing time. If you can identify that player, you bring a huge edge to your drafts. Those players are typically overlooked and will be available late in your snake draft, or even undrafted free agents. And the same is true in your auctions, some of these guys will be $1 players; or undrafted.

Last season there were a dozen hitters who had a PA% of .600 or higher…listed from most plate appearances to fewest:

Here are another seven players that just missed reaching .600 PA%:

As you can see, there are many familiar faces, but also a handful of players without many plate appearances. Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran led all of baseball with the most plate appearances, with 735. He had a very solid .599 PA%.

This tool can also be used to compare players if you are on the fence. For instance, if you are comparing shortstops, and choosing between Corey Seager, Trea Turner, and Carlos Correa, you may be surprised to know that last year, Correa’s PA% was .558, Seager’s was .555, and Turner’s was .517.

An interesting comparison is between Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos. Everyone in the Mets universe wanted Alonso back with the team…but last season, Vientos actually posted a better PA%. Vientos’ PA% was .541, while Alonso’s was .506.

But as I said, the major use of this tool is to find the players with fewer plate appearances. Here are the players with 300 plate appearances or fewer, who have a PA% of .500 or higher, listed from most plate appearances to fewest:

Monitor the depth charts of these teams to see if these players stand to get more playing time. If they do, you’ll have a huge edge on the competition, and have a few diamonds in the rough.

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