What is Slugging Percentage in Baseball?

Slugging percentage in baseball is a measure of a batter’s power, calculated by the total number of bases divided by at-bats. Unlike batting average, which counts all hits equally, slugging percentage values extra-base hits more, providing a deeper insight into a player’s hitting ability. Let’s break down how slugging percentage offers a more complete picture of a player’s offensive impact.

Why it’s Called Slugging Percentage

The term slugging percentage is used because it describes how much power a hitter produces. If you have a high slugging percentage, that means you produce a high number of power hits. The term “slug” or “slugger” often refers to a player that hits for a great deal of power. That is why the statistic representing power is termed slugging percentage. 

The Purpose of Slugging Percentage

The purpose of slugging percentage is to determine how much power a hitter produces. If the hitter has a high slugging percentage, then that means they produce a high percentage of extra-base hits. 

How is the Slugging Percentage Calculated? 

Slugging percentage is formulated differently than batting average. Slugging percentage is not necessarily a true percentage. To calculate total bases, you take a batter’s total number of hits and add one additional base for each double, two for each triple, and three for each homer. The formula for slugging percentage is: (1B + 2Bx2 + 3Bx3 + HRx4)/AB. This formula is used because each hit is assigned a different score in slugging percentage. A single is not weighted. A double is weighted by a multiple of 2. A triple is weighted with a multiple of 3. A home run is weighted by a multiple of 4. 

Example calculation

An example of a slugging percentage calculation can be seen in looking at Babe Ruth’s historic slugging percentage. In 1920, Babe Ruth had 172 hits. Ruth had 73 singles, 36 doubles, 9 triples, and 54 home runs. Ruth had 458 at-bats. There for the calculation would look like  (73×1) + (36×2) + (9×3) + (54×4)= 388. 388/458= .847 which was Ruth’s slugging percentage. 

What Is a Good Slugging Percentage?

Slugging percentage is a stat that is largely dependent on the type of hitter a player is. If you are more of a contact hitter then you probably won’t hit for an extremely high slugging percentage because your hits won’t be weighted the same as a power hitter. If you are a power hitter, you will likely have a high slugging percentage. With that being said, a good slugging percentage would be .450. A slugging percentage of .550 would be outstanding and anything .650 and above would be elite. On the other end of the spectrum, a .350 slugging percentage is fairly poor. 

Career Slugging Percentage Leaders

You may be wondering who has the highest slugging percentage of all time. Babe Ruth has the highest slugging percentage of all time with a career mark of .6897. Ted Williams follows him with a career mark of .6338. Third on the all-time list is Lou Gehrig with .6324. Jimmie Foxx is on the all-time slugging percentage list at number 4 with a .6093 slugging percentage, and Barry Bonds rounds out the top 5 with .6069.  

Rank	Player	SLG
1	Babe Ruth	0.6897
2	Ted Williams	0.6338
3	Lou Gehrig	0.6324
4	Mule Suttles	0.6179
5	Turkey Stearnes	0.6165
6	Oscar Charleston	0.6145
7	Jimmie Foxx	0.6093
8	Barry Bonds	0.6069
9	Hank Greenberg	0.605
10	Mark McGwire	0.5882
11	Manny Ramirez	0.5854
12	Mike Trout	0.5845
13	Joe DiMaggio	0.5788
14	Aaron Judge	0.5784
15	Rogers Hornsby	0.5765
16	Larry Walker *	0.5652
17	Albert Belle	0.5638
18	Johnny Mize	0.562
19	Juan González	0.5607
20	Stan Musial	0.5591

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