Baseball talk: what does this mean?

Question

"Everybody knows he's hitting .420..." What does that mean exactly? 420 points? And... does PG mean something else in baseball?

I know little of this sport, but I have to read a text full with baseball terms and I'd like to understand what they're saying.

Answer 1

To get batting average, divide number of hits by at bats.

Hits only include actual hits, reaching on an error, walk, hit by pitch or fielder's choice do not count.

Every time a batter goes to the plate to bat it counts as an AB unless he walks, is hit by a pitch or sacrifices.  A sacrifice can be a bunt type or a fly ball that enables a runner to score; merely advancing a base is noty enough.  It does not count as an AB if a runner is thrown out trying to steal and that ends the inning.  The same batter will begin the next inning, but with a new ball-strike count.

In the case of a batter reaching om am error, that's a play where if the ball was handled properly he would have been out, he gets charged for the AB, but not credited for a hit.  He is 0-1.

In the case that you describe, a batter is hitting .420.  That means that , on average, he has gotten .42 hits for every chargeable at bat.  If he batted a hundred times, he got 42 hits, an outstanding pace.  

Incidentally whenever a batter comes to the plate it is called a plate appearance and that is used to figure on base percentage.  Ask me and I'll detail that to you.

Answer 2

.420 is a batter's batting average (ex: if a player gets four hits in ten at bats (4/10) he is hitting .400)

As for PG ???? could it be post game or P/GS - pitches per game

Here is a good site with abbreviations and definitions:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/bas...

Answer 3

Look in the text's index and/or glossary. All will be explained.