Total average
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Total average is a baseball statistic devised by sportswriter Thomas Boswell and introduced in 1978.[1] It was also described in his 1982 article "Welcome to the world of Total Average where a walk is as good as a hit". It is designed to measure a hitter's overall offensive contributions, on the basis that "all bases are created equal".[2] The statistic was included in issues of Inside Sports.[1]
The definition of the statistic is simple. A player gets a credit for every base accumulated and a penalty for every out made. So a player gets one credit for a single, walk, stolen base or being hit by a pitch; two for a double; three for a triple; and four for a home run. A player's total average is calculated by summing the accumulated bases and dividing by the number of outs the player makes.
