It's an OPS world in today's major
leagues with batting average in the background
[March 03, 2026]
By JAY COHEN
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Batting average was a priority for Andrew
Benintendi when he first broke into the major leagues in 2016. He
batted .312 in the minors on the way to his debut.
Going into his fourth season with the Chicago White Sox and 11th
overall, he is more focused on his OPS and power numbers.
“The game kind of changes where the money is, I guess,” Benintendi
said. “So players obviously will chase that.”
The significance of batting average has been in decline for years,
replaced by on-base percentage and slugging percentage, along with
the OPS metric that combines the two. Batting average treats all
hits as the same, while OPS accounts for power and other methods of
reaching base.
But the diminished importance of what was once one of the majors'
marquee statistics was thrown into sharp relief by the free agency
of Luis Arraez over the winter.
Arraez, a three-time batting champion who turns 29 in April, hit a
career-low .292 with eight homers and 61 RBIs in 154 games for San
Diego last season. The infielder also led the NL in hits for the
second straight year. But he doesn't hit for power or walk very
much, and he has defensive limitations.
So, even with his .317 career batting average — tops among active
qualified players — Arraez was on the market until right before
spring training, when he agreed to a $12 million, one-year deal with
San Francisco. Arraez said he had some multiyear offers, but the
Giants gave him an opportunity to play second base.
“I don't care who (is throwing). I don't care if he's a Cy Young
(Award winner),” he said. “I have a bat, and I want to go up there
and compete.”
The MLB-wide batting average has remained fairly steady since the
pandemic-shortened 2020 season. It was .248 in 2023 — marking a
successful debut for a package of rule changes that included a pitch
clock, bigger bases and limits on infield shifts — .243 in 2024 and
.245 last year, according to Sportradar.
While New York Yankees star Aaron Judge won the 2025 AL batting
title with a .331 average, just seven qualified big leaguers hit
.300 or better, matching the previous year for the fewest since a
record-low six in 1968. Philadelphia’s Trea Turner won the NL
batting title with a record-low .304 average.
“We look at more of the advanced metrics and the expected outcomes
based on the quality of the at-bat, the process metrics, but you can
start with batting average and say this guy’s doing something well,”
said Chris Young, the president of baseball operations for the Texas
Rangers.
“It’s a preliminary indicator, but we dig pretty deep in terms of
understanding the profile of a player and what we can expect and
predict.”
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San Francisco Giants' Luis Arraez, right, connects for a run-scoring
single as Athletics catcher Austin Wynns, left, looks on during the
third inning of a spring training baseball game Monday, Feb. 23,
2026, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Batting average is “not something that we look at
at the beginning of an evaluation,” said Jed Hoyer, the president of
baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs.
“I think there’s a lot of things that are much more important,”
Hoyer said, “but I do think that a guy like a Nico Hoerner or Luis
Arraez, I do think in a world that values a strikeout, in a world
that has so much incredible stuff, I think that the players that can
truly put the ball in play at an elite level, I do think there’s
something to that.”
Hoerner hit .297 for the Cubs last year, helping the team reach the
playoffs for the first time since 2020. He batted a team-high .371
with runners in scoring position.
The 28-year-old Hoerner, who is going into the last year of his
contract, said he thinks players still take some pride in their
batting average.
“I think it's telling that if you ask the player what he hit last
year, he still understands that that’s batting average, right?”
Hoerner said. "They don’t say like, oh, I hit .840 OPS. I hit .270
or whatever it is.
“Players are aware of what’s valued and what gets them on the field
and yeah, I don’t think batting average is particularly high on that
list. But I do think it is a reflection of quality of contact that
guys make.”
It has changed the way players like Benintendi approach their game.
From 2016-23, he hit .276 and averaged 14.1 homers per 162 games. In
two years since, he is batting .234 and averaging 25.8 homers per
162 games.
“I think it’s more slug, OPS is what outweighs batting average now,”
Benintendi said, “because say you hit .250 but you have 50 homers,
would you rather have that or a guy who hits .315 with 10 homers? So
I mean it’s kind of give and take depending on the player.”
The future of batting average also belongs to the game's youngest
players, and it still holds some allure to them as well.
Cincinnati infielder Sal Stewart, one of the preseason favorites for
NL Rookie of the Year, hit .309 over two minor league stops last
year before making his Reds debut in September. Stewart said batting
average didn't come up very often during his development process,
but it means something to him.
“I mean I’m not like, ‘Oh average is the king,’ you know, but I look
into it,” he said. “But I really like on-base the most.”
___
AP Baseball Writer David Brandt contributed to this report.
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