slugging percentage

noun

variants or less commonly slugging average
baseball
: a statistic that reflects a batter's ability to get extra-base hits and that is expressed as a ratio (such as a rate per thousand) of the total number of bases reached on base hits (with one base for a single, two for a double, three for a triple, and four for a home run) to official times at bat
He drove in 118 runs, batted .289 and had the highest slugging percentage (.618) in the majors.Ron Fimrite
Quentin finished last week second in the American League in home runs (14), RBIs (48) and slugging percentage (.571) and sixth in on-base percentage (.396).Jon Heyman
The 28-year-old reached career-best figures in runs, RBIs, doubles (35), home runs (23) and slugging average (.505).Jim Allen

Examples of slugging percentage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web His batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage have all declined in each of his four MLB seasons. Daniel R. Epstein, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 Diaz had a disappointing first season in Oakland, with career-worst numbers for average (.229), on-base percentage (.280) and slugging percentage (.337) after signing a team-high $14.5 million, 2-year free-agent contract. Jon Becker, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2024 That’s 60 points better than the Giants’ previous projections leader, Jung Hoo Lee, whose slugging percentage is slated to come on doubles. Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 14 Feb. 2024 In 2009, Mauer led the American League in batting average and on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 20 Jan. 2024 The Braves won 104 games this season, the most in the big leagues, and led the majors in just about every offensive category — batting average (.276), on-base percentage (.344), slugging percentage (.501, an MLB record), home runs (another MLB record at 307) and runs (947). Ryan Morik, Fox News, 8 Oct. 2023 In the month prior to Naylor’s IL stint, Cleveland’s offense hit .269 with a .419 slugging percentage and 28 home runs. Joe Noga, cleveland, 3 Sep. 2023 When the Angels played a doubleheader Wednesday, their cleanup batters: a rookie catcher with five career home runs in Game 1; an infielder with a .378 slugging percentage in Game 2. Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023 Besides, who wants to be known as the owner who trades away the most talented player in baseball history, leading the major leagues in home runs (32) and slugging percentage (.633), batting average (.302) while yielding a 3.04 ERA with 123 strikeouts, with another MVP award coming his way? Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 11 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slugging percentage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of slugging percentage was in 1892

Dictionary Entries Near slugging percentage

Cite this Entry

“Slugging percentage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slugging%20percentage. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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