Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
A good batting average in baseball is .300. That means a player gets a hit 30% of the time they have an official at-bat. Most batters in Major League Baseball have a batting average between .250 and .275.
In high school, a batting average of .300 or higher is considered good. But recruiters and scouts often stress that players do not worry about high batting average. A batter hitting .300 in a region with college-ready pitchers is much different than another batter hitting .300 in an area with no college pitchers. Instead, scouts emphasize speed, power, bat control, and defense more than the batting average.
In the minor leagues, a batting average of .270 or higher is considered average. In Major League Baseball, a batting average of .260 or higher is considered average and .280 is good. Generally, the higher the level of play, the higher the batting average needed to be considered good. At these levels, .300 and above is a great batting average.
A .400 batting average is considered the pinnacle for Major League Baseball hitters. Since 1901, a .400 batting average has only been achieved 12 times. Ty Cobb did it three times. The last player to hit .400 or above was Ted Williams in 1941.
These baseball players have the best batting averages in MLB history:
- Ty Cobb – .366 in 24 years of
- Rogers Hornsby – .358 in 23 years
- Joe Jackson – .356 in 13 years
- Ed Delahanty – .346 in 16 years
- Tris Speaker – .345 in 22 years
- Billy Hamilton – .344 in 14 years
- Ted Williams – .344 in 19 years
- Dan Brouthers – .342 in 19 years
- Harry Heilmann – .342 in 17 years
- Babe Ruth – .342 in 22 years
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