Average can mean common, ordinary, or even dull. But stick the word batting in front of it and average can mean exciting, talented, or even superstar. Why? Because batting averages let us judge how go od a hitter is at the plate.

A batting average is a ratio. It compares the number of hits a player gets to the number of chances he had.

Say you are batting for the Baltimore Orioles. You step up to the plate for the 60th time this s eason. Here comes the pitch... home run! It's your 20th hit of the year. What's your batting average? To find out, divide the number of hits by the number of at-bats:

20 hits ÷ 60 at-bats = .300
The answer is another way o f writing 30 percent. It's the same as 30 out of 100, or 30/100. If you reduce the fraction, you get 3/10. That means you hit safely in 3 out of every 10 at-bats! Here's an example of a weaker average:

50 hits ÷ 250 at-bats = .200
A .200 average is 20% or 2 hits out of every 10 at-bats. With 3 hits out of 10 at-bats, the batting average jumps to an impressive .300.