Slugging Percentage Calculator

Slugging Percentage Calculator34Table of contents

• What is slugging percentage (SLG)?
• How to calculate slugging percentage - explanation
• SLG calculation example
• Records and average scores

The slugging percentage calculator can help you evaluate the batting effectiveness of a hitter. If you were a baseball coach - how would you determine whether you should have a given player on your team? This is where statistics come in handy and can help you make the right decision! Based on previous performances, you can calculate how well a player has done so far, and use this information to increase the chance you will win the game. Read on to find the answers to the questions: what is slugging percentage (SLG), how to calculate slugging percentage, and what values can it take?

What is slugging percentage (SLG)?

Slugging percentage is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter and equals the number of bases a player has gained divided by the number of bats (batter's turns batting against a pitcher) they have taken. The name can be misleading, as slugging percentage is not actually a percentage - it is an average of bases reached per bat.

There are many other baseball statistics and Omni has a whole baseball collection! Make sure to visit:

• ERA calculator (earned run average);
• WHIP calculator (walks plus hits per inning pitched;
• FIP calculator (fielding independent pitching); and
• OBP calculator (nn base percentage).

How to calculate slugging percentage - explanation

The formula which the slugging percentage calculator uses is:

SLG = (1B + 2*2B + 3*3B + 4*HR) / AB

• SLG - slugging percentage

• 1B - singles - number of times the player has reached only the first base

• 2B - doubles - number of times they have reached the second base

• 3B - triples - number of times they have reached the third base

• HR - home runs - number of times they have reached home base

• AB - at bats - their number of batting turns

1B + 2*2B + 3*3B + 4*HR is the formula for total bases. Why do we multiply doubles by two? Because after hitting the ball, a player tries to reach all three bases, before returning home. So when a player reaches the second base, it means he also reached the first base. When he reaches the third one - he also reached the first and the second one, so he has reached three in total.

SLG calculation example

Let's calculate the slugging percentage of Christian Yelich in 2019. His performance looks like this:

H = 77

2B = 11

3B = 2

HR = 25

AB = 223

To calculate slugging percentage, we will also need the number of 1B. In batting statistics, it is not usually given, but we have the number of all base hits (H). A base hit means reaching the first base (irrespectively of whether next bases were reached after the first one).

To determine the number of singles, we subtract doubles, triples, and home runs from all base hits:

1B = H - 2B - 3B - HR

Here:

1B = 77 - 11 - 2 - 25 = 39

Now that we have all the data needed, you can put the numbers into the calculator, or do the slugging percentage calculation on you own:

SLG = (39 + 2*11 + 3*2 + 4*25) / 223

SLG = 0.74888

SLG is expressed as a decimal and is rounded to three decimal places. Usually the "0" before the dot is omitted. So the final outcome of slugging percentage calculation would be:

SLG = .749

Records and average scores

SLG can range from 0.000 to 4.000. If a player has never reached even the first base, his (or her) slugging percentage would equal 0.000. If a player reached the fourth base each time he was at bats - his score would be 4.000. To give you some idea about the actual scores - the average SLG of all batters in Major League Baseball in 2018 was .409, while the record, held by Babe Ruth, is .6897. And what is your slugging percentage? Maybe you're the next to beat the record, so practice, and keep track of your progress with the help of the slugging percentage calculator!

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