Ground-ball Rate (GB%)

Definition

Ground-ball rate represents the percentage of balls hit into the field of play that are characterized as ground balls. Each ball that is hit into the field of play is characterized as a line drive, a fly ball, a ground ball or a pop-up. Ground-ball rate can be used as a metric to evaluate both hitters and pitchers.

Pitchers with high ground-ball rates have a tendency to allow fewer home runs (which result from fly balls and line drives). Likewise, hitters with higher ground-ball rates tend to hit fewer home runs.

In A Call

"ground-ball percentage"