Hitters are different?

I saw an interesting post on X. It showed a player’s batting average in each zone. It’s interesting because he’s a good contact hitter and the lowest batting average shown in the cold zone was actually over .250.

 

After seeing that post, I was just thinking about the changes in baseball and I decided to check on the statcast website to see if there are some changes.

 

Firstly, let’s take a look at batting average from 2008 to 2025. Back in 2008, the leaguewide batting average was .264 and the next season, it was .262. Nonetheless, in 2010, the leaguewide batting average dropped to .257. In 2011 and 2012, the batting average in the majors was .255. From 2013 to 2017, the batting average in the majors remained below .260 but higher than .250. Nevertheless, in 2018, the batting average leaguewide decreased to .248. But in the 2019 season, it bounced back to .252. However, in 2020, the leaguewide batting average declined again. This time, it was .245. Since then, the batting average each season has never reached .250.

In addition, let’s look at the on-base percentage. In 2008 and 2009, the on-base percentage in the majors was .333 each season. In 2010, it was .325 and the next season, it was .321. In 2012, the leaguewide on-base percentage dropped .319. From 2013 to 2015, the leaguewide on-base percentage had remained below .320. Nonetheless, in 2016 and in 2017, the leaguewide on-base percentage bounced back. It was over .320 in each of those 2 seasons. However, in 2018, the leaguewide on-base percentage dropped to .315. In 2019 and 2020, the on-base percentage was .320 each season. Nevertheless, from 2021 to 2025, the on-base percentage has remained below .320 each season.

Thirdly, let’s take a look at the slugging percentage. In 2008, the leaguewide slugging percentage was .416. In 2009, it increased to .418 and in 2010, it remained over .400. It dropped a little bit in 2011, but bounced back in 2012. In 2013, the slugging percentage in the majors was .396 and in 2014, it declined to .386. In 2015, the leaguewide slugging percentage was .405. In 2016, the leaguewide slugging percentage increased to .417. In 2017, it was even higher and in 2018, it remained over .400. In 2019, it jumped to .435. Nevertheless, it dropped to .418 in 2020. In 2022, the number was below .400. But in 2023, it bounced back and the leaguewide slugging percentage was .414. In 2024, the slugging percentage in the majors was .399. In 2025, the slugging percentage in the majors was .404.

Finally, let’s look at xwOBA. In 2015, xwOBA in the majors was .309 and it increased to .315 in 2016. From 2017 to 2019, it remained over .310. In the shortened 2020 season, it was .323. The leaguewide xwOBA dropped to .309 in 2022. But it bounced in 2023. In 2024, xwOBA was .312 in the majors. This season, xwOBA in the majors was .324.

So, looking at the stats from 2008 to 2025, clearly, the batting average in the majors has dropped. It hasn’t reached .250 since 2019. At the same time, the on-base percentage has declined. It hasn’t reached .320 since 2020. Nonetheless, a key thing worth watching is xwOBA. The xwOBA is .324 in 2025 and it’s the highest since the statcast data available in 2015. Of course, we have to consider several factors such as defensive shifts and the usage of foreign substances. Well, maybe we can say the contact quality from the hitters changes?