Baseball is a statistician's heaven. From winning percentage to batting average to on-base percentage, baseball offers statistics for every level of fan. On-base percentage is critical is analyzing how effective a player is at the plate, and baseball statisticians use a simple formula to compute it.
Step 1
Figure the total number of times the player reached base safely. Add together the player's hits, walks and the number of times he was hit by a pitch while batting.
Step 2
Compute the player's total appearances at the plate. Add together the player's at-bats, walks, sacrifice flies and the number of times he was hit by a pitch while batting.
Step 3
Divide the number you calculated from Step 1 into the number you calculated from Step 2. As an example, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has 85 hits, 10 walks and has been hit by a pitch (HBP) five times; he has reached base safely 100 times. He also has 280 at-bats, 10 walks, 5 HBP and 5 sacrifice flies for a total of 300 plate appearances. Divide 100 into 300 to compute that Albert has a .333 on-base percentage.
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