Plate appearance

From BR Bullpen

Every trip by a batter to the plate, including hits, walks, outs and reach by error, counts as a plate appearance. The only exception is when the time at bat is interrupted by an inning ending on a caught stealing or other similar event that prevents the completion of the batter's turn at the plate. A plate appearance differs from an at bat, which excludes outcomes such as a base on balls or a hit by pitch. The number of at bats is used to calculate batting average and slugging percentage, while the number of plate appearances is used to calculate a batter's on-base percentage.