Glossary

Statcast + Custom Metric Reference
Batter Stat Glossary
Definitions · League Baselines · Stabilization Thresholds
Power / Contact Quality
Bat Speed
Batted Ball Profile
Plate Discipline
⬡ Power & Contact Quality
Barrels A batted ball you hit with the ideal combination of exit velocity (≥ 98 mph) and launch angle (26–30°), with the qualifying window widening as your EV climbs. Statcast's flagship power-contact metric — balls you barrel produce a league-average outcome of roughly .900 SLG / 1.500 OPS.
Avg Baseline 6–8% Barrel rate (BBE)
Sample Size ~250 AB ≈ Half season
Blasts A stricter subset of your Barrels using a narrower classification window, producing even better outcomes than a standard barrel. Inspired by Alex Chamberlain's work. Think of these as the true cream-of-the-crop batted balls you produce — fewer in number, but more predictive of elite power output.
Avg Baseline —
Sample Size —
HH% Hard Hit Rate — the percentage of your batted balls struck at ≥ 95 mph exit velocity. Less specific than Barrels since launch angle is ignored entirely, but it stabilizes faster and gives a broad-strokes read on your raw contact quality. Highly correlated with ISO and overall power production.
Avg Baseline 36–40% League average
Sample Size ~65 AB Stabilizes quickly
100+ EV The percentage of your balls in play hit at 100+ mph exit velocity — a step above standard HH%, focusing only on your most explosive contact. A strong filter for true raw power. Even without an ideal launch angle, 100+ EV contact causes significant damage and puts outfielders on their heels.
Avg Baseline —
Sample Size —
350ft+ The percentage of your batted balls that travel at least 350 feet. Captures your ability to drive the ball into gaps and over the fence — useful as a proxy for raw power output that isn't dependent on your home run total. Park-adjusted versions give you a cleaner read on true talent.
Avg Baseline —
Sample Size —
⬡ Bat Speed
SwgSpd Average Swing Speed — how fast your bat head is moving (in mph) at the moment of contact or swing completion. Tracked by Statcast since 2024. A foundational athleticism metric: elite bat speed buys you more time to read pitches while still generating power. Not to be confused with decision speed or whiff rate — you can swing fast and still miss.
Avg Baseline 70–72 mph Elite: 76+ mph
Sample Size ~60 AB Stabilizes early
Swing+ Swings where you combine strong bat speed with efficient contact — isolating the "best" swings where athleticism and execution converge. Filters out fast-bat whiffs and slow-bat weak contact to focus on the intersection of power and precision. A higher rate signals that your best tool is showing up consistently, not just in flashes.
Avg Baseline —
Sample Size —
⬡ Batted Ball Profile
Air% The percentage of your balls in play that are air balls — fly balls and line drives combined. High Air% paired with hard contact is the clearest power profile in the sport. Low Air% signals a ground-ball approach. Context matters: a 50% Air% hitter who barrels everything is far more dangerous than one who simply pops up a lot.
Avg Baseline ~52–58% FB% + LD%
Sample Size ~120 AB ~1 month
Pull Air% The percentage of your air balls that you pull to your pull-side of the field. Pulled fly balls are the highest-leverage power batted ball type, yielding the most home runs per opportunity. Elite power hitters lead this category year over year. Tracking this early in a season is one of the best ways to project your HR upside before counting stats accumulate.
Avg Baseline ~15–22% Of all BBE
Sample Size ~200 AB Moderately stable
⬡ Plate Discipline
Zone% The percentage of pitches you see that are thrown inside the strike zone. Low Zone% generally means pitchers are respecting you and working around you; high Zone% may mean they feel comfortable attacking. Use it as context for your other discipline numbers — Chase% reads very differently when you're seeing a lot of strikes vs. very few.
Avg Baseline 44–48% All pitches seen
Sample Size ~100 AB ~2–3 weeks
Z-Contact% Your contact rate on pitches thrown inside the strike zone. A high Z-Contact% means you rarely miss the pitches you should be hitting — a signal of bat-to-ball skill and true zone control. Elite hitters sit above 88–90%. A low Z-Contact% is a red flag regardless of your power, revealing exploitable holes that will be targeted relentlessly.
Avg Baseline 85–88% In-zone pitches
Sample Size ~150 AB ~1 month
O-Contact% Your contact rate on pitches thrown outside the strike zone — when you swing at a ball, how often do you make contact? A high rate cuts both ways: fewer whiffs, but more weak contact on pitches out of the zone. The best hitters make this contact on pitches they can handle, not the ones they were baited into chasing.
Avg Baseline 64–68% Out-of-zone swings
Sample Size ~200 AB ~1.5 months
Chase% The percentage of pitches thrown outside the strike zone that you swing at. Lower is better. Your plate discipline shows up here first — a low Chase% forces pitchers into the zone and into your hitting zones. Strongly predictive of both your walk rate and strikeout rate, and often the earliest leading indicator of a breakout or an impending regression.
Avg Baseline 28–32% Lower = better
Sample Size ~150 AB ~1 month
SwStr% Swinging Strike Rate — the percentage of all pitches you see (not just ones you swing at) that you miss entirely. One of the most stable and predictive strikeout indicators available. A low SwStr% is non-negotiable for contact hitters. As a power hitter you can carry a higher rate — but only if the contact you do make is loud enough to offset the misses.
Avg Baseline 10–12% Lower = better
Sample Size ~90 AB ~3 weeks
Statcast + Custom Metric Reference
Pitcher Stat Glossary
Definitions · League Baselines · Stabilization Thresholds
Contact Quality Allowed
Batted Ball Profile
Plate Discipline
⬡ Contact Quality Allowed
Barrels The rate at which hitters barrel your pitches — exit velocity ≥ 98 mph in the ideal launch angle window (26–30°), widening as EV climbs. Barrels allowed are the single most damaging batted ball outcome a pitcher can give up, producing a league-average result of roughly .900 SLG / 1.500 OPS. Keeping this low is central to any sustainable ERA.
Avg Baseline 6–8% Barrel rate (BBE)
Sample Size ~250 BF ≈ Half season
Blasts A stricter subset of Barrels allowed, using a narrower classification window that produces even worse outcomes than a standard barrel. Inspired by Alex Chamberlain's work. A high Blast rate is a serious red flag — these are the batted balls that end up as tape-measure shots, and suppressing them separates true power-suppressors from the rest.
Avg Baseline —
Sample Size —
HH% Hard Hit Rate allowed — the percentage of batted balls against you that are struck at ≥ 95 mph. Stabilizes faster than Barrels and gives a quick read on whether hitters are generating real force against your stuff. Pitchers who allow consistently soft contact are far more likely to sustain low ERAs even when their strand rates normalize.
Avg Baseline 36–40% League average
Sample Size ~65 BF Stabilizes quickly
⬡ Batted Ball Profile
Air% The percentage of balls in play against you that are air balls — fly balls and line drives combined. Context is everything here: a high Air% is fine if you're inducing weak pop-ups, but dangerous if you're also allowing hard contact. Ground ball pitchers naturally suppress Air%, which is generally good for limiting extra-base damage.
Avg Baseline ~52–58% FB% + LD%
Sample Size ~120 BF ~1 month
Pull Air% The percentage of air balls against you that are also pulled by the hitter. Pulled fly balls are the highest-leverage power outcome for hitters — and the worst for pitchers. A high Pull Air% allowed signals that hitters are getting out in front of your pitches, which usually means you're either tipping, working too much to the pull side, or your stuff isn't generating enough weak contact.
Avg Baseline ~15–22% Of all BBE
Sample Size ~200 BF Moderately stable
⬡ Plate Discipline
Zone% The percentage of your pitches that you throw inside the strike zone. Too low and you're falling behind in counts, issuing walks, and letting hitters sit on pitches. Too high and you're giving hitters too much to attack. Elite pitchers manipulate Zone% deliberately — pounding the zone early, then expanding when they're ahead.
Avg Baseline 44–48% All pitches thrown
Sample Size ~100 BF ~2–3 weeks
Z-Contact% The contact rate hitters make on your pitches inside the strike zone. Lower is better. When you're in the zone, can your stuff still miss bats? Elite pitchers suppress Z-Contact% with late movement, velocity, or deception — they force whiffs even on strikes. A high Z-Contact% means hitters are making easy contact when you throw strikes, which leads to high batting averages and slugging allowed.
Avg Baseline 85–88% Lower = better
Sample Size ~150 BF ~1 month
O-Contact% The contact rate hitters make on your pitches outside the strike zone when they choose to swing. Lower is better. Getting hitters to chase is valuable — but getting them to chase and miss is the ideal. A low O-Contact% means even your waste pitches and expansion offerings are generating whiffs, which is a sign of true plus stuff or elite command to the edges.
Avg Baseline 64–68% Lower = better
Sample Size ~200 BF ~1.5 months
Chase% The percentage of your pitches thrown outside the strike zone that hitters swing at. Higher is better. A high Chase% means your stuff plays off the plate convincingly — hitters can't lay off pitches that start like strikes but break out of the zone. The best chase-generators combine elite shape with the ability to set pitches up earlier in the count.
Avg Baseline 28–32% Higher = better
Sample Size ~150 BF ~1 month
SwStr% Swinging Strike Rate — the percentage of all pitches you throw (not just swings) that result in a swinging miss. One of the most stable and predictive strikeout indicators for pitchers. A high SwStr% is a reliable signal of true swing-and-miss stuff, and it holds up far better across small samples than strikeout rate alone. The gold standard early-season strikeout predictor.
Avg Baseline 10–12% Higher = better
Sample Size ~90 BF ~3 weeks
CSW% Called Strikes + Whiffs — the percentage of all pitches you throw that result in either a called strike or a swinging miss. A broader measure of how often you win the individual pitch. CSW% captures both your ability to paint the zone for called strikes and to generate swing-and-miss, making it one of the most complete single-pitch-outcome metrics available for evaluating a pitcher's stuff.
Avg Baseline 28–30% Higher = better
Sample Size ~100 BF ~3–4 weeks
Whiff% The percentage of swings against you that result in a complete miss — swinging strikes divided by total swings you induce. Unlike SwStr%, this is swing-only, so it isolates your pure miss-bat ability on pitches hitters actually commit to. A high Whiff% means your stuff is genuinely hard to square up, not just that you're avoiding contact through location or deception alone.
Avg Baseline 24–26% Higher = better
Sample Size ~75 BF Stabilizes quickly
K-BB% Your strikeout rate minus your walk rate. A single number that summarizes your command and stuff outcome — the higher, the better. A high K-BB% means you're racking up punchouts without giving the bases away for free. It's one of the most predictive ERA indicators available, because it captures both your ability to miss bats and your ability to throw strikes when it counts.
Avg Baseline 12–15% Higher = better
Sample Size ~175 BF ~1.5 months

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