Editing Plate appearance (section)

== Use as batting record qualifier ==
[[At bats]] - rather than plate appearances - are used to calculate [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]]s, [[slugging percentage]]s. However, starting in 1957,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/baseball-reference-faqs/|title=Baseball-Reference FAQs|work=Baseball-Reference.com|access-date=November 3, 2021}}</ref> at season's end a player must have accumulated a minimum number of plate appearances during a season to be ranked as a league-leader in certain statistical categories. For batting championships in [[Major League Baseball|MLB]], this number is 3.1 plate appearances multiplied by the number of scheduled games in a season, rounded up or down to the nearest whole number. As of 2024, with a 162-game regular season, this means 502 plate appearances are required to qualify. A lesser criterion applies in the [[Minor League Baseball|minor leagues]], with 2.7 plate appearances per game required to qualify.<ref name=":0" />

For example, Player A gets 100 hits in 400 at bats over 510 plate appearances, which works out to a .250 batting average (equivalent to one hit in every four at-bats).  Alternatively, Player B gets 110 hits in 400 at bats over 490 plate appearances during the same season, finishing with a .275 batting average. Player B, even though he had the same amount of at bats as Player A and even though his batting average is higher, will not be eligible for certain percentage-based season-ending rankings because he did not accumulate the required 502 plate appearances, while Player A did and therefore will be eligible.<ref name="Mahony">Baseball Explained by Phillip Mahony. McFarland Books, 2014. See [http://www.baseballexplained.com www.baseballexplained.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813034018/http://www.baseballexplained.com/ |date=2014-08-13 }}</ref>  There is, however, an exception:

=== Exception for batting titles ===
Rule 9.22(a) of the [[Official Baseball Rules]] make a single allowance to the minimum requirement of 502 plate appearances for the purposes of determining the batting, slugging or on-base percentage title. If a player:

* leads the league in one of the statistics;
* does not have the required 502 plate appearances; and
* would still lead the league in that statistic if as many at bats (without hits or reaching base) were added to his records as necessary to meet the requirement,

he will win that title,<ref name=":0" /> but with his original statistic (before the extra at bats were added).

In the example above, Player B is 12 plate appearances short of the required 502, but were he be charged with 12 additional unproductive at bats, he would go 110-for-412 for a batting average of .267. If no one else has a batting average (similarly modified if appropriate) higher than .267, player B will be awarded the batting title (with his original batting average of .275) despite the lack of 502 plate appearances.

In a real-life example, in 2012, [[Melky Cabrera]], then of the [[San Francisco Giants]], finished the season with a league-high .346 batting average, but he had only 501 plate appearances, one short of the required 502. Per the rule, he would have won the batting title because after an extra at bat is added and his batting average recalculated, he still would have led the league in batting average. Cabrera's case, however, turned out differently. The reason Cabrera finished the season with only 501 plate appearances was because he was suspended in mid-August when he tested positive for illegal [[performance-enhancing drugs]]. Cabrera was still eligible for that extra at bat, but he requested that the extra at bat not be added to his total, and that he not be considered for the batting crown, because he admitted that his use of performance-enhancing drugs had given him an unfair advantage over other players. As a result, Cabrera's name is nowhere to be found on the list of 2012 National League batting leaders.<ref name="Mahony" />