In today’s era of Statcast baseball, there are tens–and possibly even hundreds–of statistics of different baseball statistics that help visualize various activities on and off the field. However, a single statistic alone can not capture everything that needs to be known about a player or a game. But some statistics in particular can tell so much due to how they are designed. Many statistics like this stand out, but one is, in my opinion, the best: SLG, or slugging percentage.
Slugging percentage is as old as the sport itself- it was created in its original form in 1867 as “total bases average.” That name itself sums up what that statistic measures, which is the amount of bases taken per hit. So not only does it factor for hits itself, but it actually account for what happens during these hits(the amount of bases taken).
Such description can be shown with the formula above. It proportionally factors for singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, giving stronger hits more weightage. This means that players that hit more home runs, for example, would have a higher slugging percentage.
How does SLG affect today’s MLB? Well, in short, the answer is a lot. As players and teams are hitting more and more home runs in today’s era of MLB baseball, slugging percentages are only increasing year by year. The highest slugging percentage this year belongs to Aaron Judge, who has a slugging percentage of .683(the highest this year). This is no surprise, as Judge also leads the league in home runs this year, at 55(as of 9/8/22). However, he is not the only standout; Paul Goldschmidt has been having a monster season as well. While not leading in home runs, he has been the most, if not one of the most, effective hitters at the plate this year. He coincidentally leads the league in batting average this season, which is .329. So, not only does he have the highest frequency of hits per batting appearance, but he also tends to have efficient hits due to the fact that he has the second highest slugging percentage(.616).
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Slugging percentage does have its limitations, however. It is a metric based on hits only, so it does not account for all instances where a player takes a base(OBP). One of the biggest reasons why statistics like OBP were drawn up was simply because of the fact that metrics based solely on hits(such as batting average) were too shallow to truly assess a player. But, slugging percentage, while based off of hits, accounts for the efficiency of them, and thus becomes a useful statistic in assessing a player; without it, there would simply only be a batting average.
As a parting thought: slugging percentage has other uses in sabermetrics, one being OPS(on base plus slugging). This intends to factor in other ways of getting on base such as walks and add it to the value that a slugging percentage itself offers. An OPS near 1 is considered to be best, and only the best in the MLB have such numbers, along with high slugging percentages too. It’s crazy how correlated statistics can be in baseball.
Prior to reading your blog, I had seldom knowledge about the meticulous statistics that go into calculating the number of bases taken. However, it was really eye opening to read and learn more about the scoring mechanics that go into baseball. I particularly find it interesting how slugging percentages have only gotten increasingly higher over the years as players improved; it makes me wonder if the MLB is ever going to revise their slugging formula to curate to players today. I was thoroughly impressed to read about Aaron Judge who currently has a slugging percentage of .683! But I am even more impressed that he has garnered 55 home runs! I remember from my ill-attempt at softball how difficult it was to even land a hit, let alone hit a homerun. After reading your blog, I now have a deeper appreciation for the mechanics of the sport and players like Aaron Judge.
Referring back to your previous article, I think it’s incredible that the difference between the highest and second highest slugging percentage is 67 points. That’s a huge difference, and shows Aaron Judge’s dominance this year. Also, I think it’s interesting that you mention how complete the metric is. While it is true that OPS factors both slugging and on base percentage, I think for the purpose of judging a batter’s hitting efficiency, slugging is a better metric. After all, walks only drive in runs if the bases are loaded, while singles can drive in a runner at second, so I think slugging also helps show how many RBIs a batter could have, or give some insight into their plate approach, and for walks and other ways to get on base, other metrics can be used separately. But, then again, I’m not a GM for a team, so I’m not sure exactly how each metric or stat is used and how effective they are.