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.

Theoretically, a plate appearance could last forever, as foul balls can prolong it until a ball is put in play, or a ball or strike is called. In practice, it is extremely rare for a plate appearance to be longer than 15 pitches.

[edit] Further Reading

• Brian Yonushonis: "The Infinitely Long MLB Plate Appearance, SABR, Volume 40, Number 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 103-107.