Batting Average is a well-known stat to both beginners and experts in Fantasy Baseball. Almost every Fantasy Baseball owner has Batting Average as a statistical category in his or her league. In addition, throughout history we have defined a player as being a very good hitter if their batting average is over .300. The actual stat has been around since the late 19th century when Henry Chadwick thought that dividing hits by the number of at bats was a good way to judge how well a player hit.

So what is wrong with Batting Average? Ironically, it’s the batted ball. A player’s batting average is greatly affected by the surroundings of his at bat, but most importantly, what happens to the ball when it is hit. Here are some factors that can influence batting average both positively and negatively.

• The speed of the batter - Typically you will see a speedy player have a higher batting average, because after hitting a groundball he has a better chance of beating the throw into first. Obviously, there is a huge difference between Ryan Howard and Jose Reyes running down the first base line. However, there is also the difference between Howard’s long powerful swing, Chase Utley’s short compact swing, and Ichiro’s running towards first at the point of contact. The type of swing can affect the amount of time it takes for the batter to get out of the box, and hence, impact his batting average.
• The type of defense and game situation - David Ortiz and Ryan Howard’s batting average would be higher if they were not constantly hitting into a shifted defense. Conversely, with a runner on first or second, the two of them will have a slight increase in their batting average, because the defense is in a different position.
• Defensive skills - This is a significant factor. There would be a big difference between Ichiro and Pat Burrell playing center field. A ball hit in the gap can be an out, or a hit, depending on the speed of an outfielder. Likewise, middle infielders have different ranges as well. Jose Reyes can get to more balls than Derek “past a diving” Jeter.
• The pitcher on the mound – Here is a factor that will change, not only from game to game, but also possibly from inning to inning. The longer Jake Peavy stays in the game, the better chance your offensive player has his batting average lowered. That is when you begin to pray for LaTroy Hawkins to be brought into the game.
• The Ballpark – Every ballpark has different dimensions. Some have huge outfields (Coors Field) and others are a lot smaller (Citizens Bank Park). The ballpark factor is also closely tied to the speed of the outfielders as well. These two components will determine whether a ball falls into play or not.

With all of these factors, evaluating a player solely based on batting average is a complete mistake. Selecting a player in fantasy drafts strictly because he can hit for average is another mistake that many people will make. You do not need to think back very far before you realize that many owners fell into this trap by drafting Freddy Sanchez in the middle rounds last year. After he hit .344 in 2006, Sanchez posted another solid season of hitting .304, however, that is all that he did. He had absolutely no other value for fantasy owners, and was dropped in many leagues.

So what stat should be used? It really depends on what you are looking for. If you want to evaluate whether a player’s batting average is legit, you need to look at strikeout rates and Batting Average of Ball In Play (BABIP). As I said previously, the effects of a batted ball is out of the control of the batter and is affected by numerous other factors. Generally speaking, low BABIP numbers mean the hitter is “unlucky.” However, that is not always the case. Sometimes a hitter can have a low BABIP and still be a terrible hitter.

I would like to suggest using another stat that may not be as familiar to you, Equivalent Batting Average (EqA). Wikipedia has this definition for Equivalent Batting Average:

Equivalent Average (EqA) is a baseball metric invented by Clay Davenport, and intended to express the production of hitters in a context independent of park and league effects. It represents a hitter’s productivity using the same scale as Batting Average. Thus, a hitter with an EqA over .300 is a great hitter, while a hitter with an EqA of .220 or below is poor. An EqA of .260 is defined as league average

The calculation of the stat also incorporates Total Bases, Walks, Hit by Pitches, Hits, and At Bats, along with several others. That is definitely more information than just taking hits and dividing them by at bats. All of those extra stats take out most of the outside factors that influence batting average.

So where does this leave you, the astute owner? It should lead you to understand hitters a little better, and have an easier way of determining good hitters from terrible ones. A solid example of EqA at work involves Adam Dunn. Everyone says that he is a great hitter, but his batting average was a paltry .264 last year. Even with his league average batting average, he still posted a decent .386 On Base Percentage, and a solid .940 OPS number. Both of which indicate that he truly is a solid hitter. Unfortunately, you have to look at all three numbers to come to that conclusion, never mind factoring in strikeout rates and BABIP. Equivalent Batting Average will tell the same story in one easy to use stat. Dunn had an EqA of .304, which is forty-four points higher then the league average .260. You truly can see that one stat tells just as clear of a story as all of the others put together.

Every year you see owners grabbing someone from the waiver wire just because his average is over .300. While this is a good tactic for the short term, it is not the best way to impact your team overall. Instead, find someone who is posting a solid EqA number, and the batting average, along with other fantasy value, will follow.