# slugging % **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 1999, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370 "1999-08-05T23:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![red\_wings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/47e85d/32.png) [@red\_wings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_wings)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 1999, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/1 "1999-08-05T23:08:00Z")
What is slugging % and how is it calculated? ---
**Author:** ![Llardball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Llardball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llardball)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/2 "1999-08-06T00:29:00Z")
Slugging percentage is used to see if someone is a power hitter. The way you calculate it is to take a player’s total bases (Hits + 2B + (3B times 2) + (HR times 3)) and divide that by their total at bats. If a player hits a lot of doubles, triples, or home runs, the slugging percentage will be much higher. This is why power hitters have high slugging percentages. ---
**Author:** ![red\_wings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/47e85d/32.png) [@red\_wings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_wings)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 1999, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/3 "1999-08-06T00:36:00Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 1999, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/4 "1999-08-08T04:09:00Z")
Except shouldn’t that be 2Bx2, 3Bx3, HRx4? But the general idea is right. It’s essentially the average number of bases gained per at bat by the player. So every HR by McGwire makes up for 4 of those whiffs. Still, even his sa is only in the .600s. Like ba, at the beginning of a season someone will go on a tear and have a sa of over 1.000, but then of course they have to come back to reality and someone like MM takes over the final lead. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 1999, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/5 "1999-08-08T06:42:00Z")
The precise formula is as follows: S+(D_2)+(T_3)+(H\*$)=TB TB/AB When: S = Singles D = Doubles T = Triples H = Home Runs TB = Total Bases AB = At Bats * * * Brian O’Neill CMC International Records [rockuniverse.com/cmc/cmc.html](http://rockuniverse.com/cmc/cmc.html) ICQ 35294890 AIM Scrabble1 Yahoo Messenger Brian\_ONeill ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 1999, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/6 "1999-08-08T06:45:00Z")
_sigh_ The dollar sign above should be a 4, as I’m sure you figured out… I wish this BB had an “edit” feature for these 2:45 AM postings… ---
**Author:** ![bermuda999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@bermuda999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bermuda999)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 1999, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slugging/2370/7 "1999-08-08T08:19:00Z")
\>\>(Hits + 2B + (3B times 2) + (HR times 3)) and divide that by their total at bats \>\>llardball \>\>Except shouldn’t that be 2Bx2, 3Bx3, HRx4? \>\>Dave Swaney No, see below. \>\>The precise formula is as follows: S+(D_2)+(T_3)+(H\*4)=TB TB/AB\>\>Satan The 2 formulas are slightly different ways at arriving at exactly the same thing. Llardball’s formula starts with “Hits”, which includes singles, doubles, triples and home runs. Since all of those hits have been counted once, if you add doubles in again you have attributed 2 bases to them. If you add (triples X 2) in you have attributed 3 bases to each triple. If you add in (HRs X 3), then you have attributed four bases for each HR. Satan’s formula starts with “singles” instead of hits. Therefore, doubles, triples and HRs have not yet been counted once. Therefore, it is necessary to multiply doubles by 2, triples by 3 and HRs by 4. The results are identical.