What Is Slugging Percentage?
Slugging percentage measures a hitter's power by weighting each hit by how many bases it produces. Unlike batting average, it knows the difference between a single and a home run.
What slugging percentage measures
Slugging percentage is total bases per at-bat. It captures the value of extra-base hits that batting average ignores, making it the simplest common measure of raw power. A hitter who slugs .550 is producing far more bases per swing than one who slugs .380, even if they share the same batting average.
How to calculate slugging percentage by hand
First find total bases: count a single as one base, a double as two, a triple as three, and a home run as four. Then divide by at-bats. A hitter with 30 singles, 9 doubles, 1 triple, and 5 home runs has 30 + 18 + 3 + 20 = 71 total bases; over 160 at-bats that is a .444 slugging percentage.
If you only know total hits, derive singles by subtracting doubles, triples, and home runs from the hit total — the embedded calculator does this automatically.
What is a good slugging percentage at each level?
- MLB: .500+ is strong power, ~.400 is average, under .380 is light.
- College: lively bats push slugging higher; power hitters clear .600 routinely.
- High school: best compared within a league because of uneven pitching.
Limitations
Slugging percentage ignores walks entirely, so it says nothing about a hitter's plate discipline — that is what on-base percentage is for. It also treats a home run as exactly four times a single, which slightly overstates the gap. Pairing it with OBP (as OPS does) gives a fuller picture of a hitter.