What is QAB in Baseball?
QAB is a baseball term that means quality at-bat. A player that has a quality at-bat has produced an objective for his team during a game that can be calculated.
You may ask yourself, what is QAB in baseball, and how does a player achieve it? Well, a quality at-bat doesn’t have to be hitting a home run or smashing a triple down the right-field line. There are various ways to achieve QAB.
A quality at-bat may not appear on a baseball game’s highlight reel nor feature in a write-up of the game in a national newspaper. Yet, a QAB in baseball could be the difference between a team winning a game and losing it.
Quality At-Bat Definition
Watching a Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, or even a college baseball game, there is a good chance you will hear a commentator talk about quality at-bats. The term “quality at-bats” has been around for a long time, and a lot of baseball fans may have used the phrase without knowing just what it meant. Sometimes commentators may even use the phrase, not realizing that there is a measurable way to determine a QAB.
With baseball overrun by statistics and new metrics being created almost every year to measure various areas of the game, the ability to quantify QAB is important.
A quality at-bat can be outlined as:
A baseball statistic that determines a batter’s offensive importance or value to the team. A QAB is any at-bat that produces a positive outcome. A player does not have to reach base to have a QAB.
To further explain the quality at-bat definition, let us look at some examples of QAB:
- A successful sacrifice bunt, moving the base runners into scoring position
- Hitting a sacrifice fly ball that moves a baserunner into scoring position or home to score
- Having a long at-bat that produces a long pitch count, thus makes the pitcher work harder
- A base-on-balls (walk)
- Hitting a home run after taking several pitches
- Getting a hit after taking several pitches
- Getting a base hit
- Hitting the ball hard, although it produces an out
- Getting hit by a pitch
- Getting a hit with two outs that produces an RBI
- Moving a baserunner up by grounding out to the right side
How to determine QAB baseball stats
You may not believe a baseball player is productive with a bat in their hand. However, QAB baseball stats can shed light on just how important a player is for a particular team. Thanks to QAB stats, players that didn’t seem of value to their teams may become indispensable.
To calculate QAB stats for an individual player, take the player’s QAB and divide it by their total plate appearances. QABs can be tallied by looking at a player’s at-bats. These are simply elements of a game that can be calculated. However, there are some QABs, such as “hitting the ball hard although it produces an out,” that are subjective.
QAB stats are incredibly important in Major League Baseball. The stats are valuable for players to show managers and teams just how valuable they are. Thus, potentially earning them higher salaries. Moreover, general managers can use QAB to find diamonds in the rough when piecing together a team.
Managers can also use QAB stats when considering batters to face specific pitchers. QAB can be important in big-game situations when managers need a pinch hitter to come off the bench.
What is a good QAB Percentage in Baseball?
So, what is a good QAB percentage in baseball? For Major League Baseball players, a good QAB percentage begins at 50%. The higher the QAB, the better at-bats a player has during a season.
College baseball players will strive for a QAB that goes no lower than 40%. Once again, the higher the QAB, the better. The same goes for baseball players at the high school level.
In baseball, producing a quality at-bat is vital to the success of a team. QABs won’t show up in box scores all the time, nor will fans wax lyrically about them as they exit the ballpark. Yet, a quality at-bat can change a game. QABs can overturn deficits and start rallies, leading a team to a win.
To further understand what a good QAB percentage in baseball is, let us explore this scenario:
A game between the Cardinals and Cubs is tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning. There is a runner on second base with one out. The infield is playing back, and a ground ball hit to the right side will move the runner up. However, the batter strikes out on three straight pitches. The following batter flies out to the center field to end the inning. The home team, the Cubs, then allows a run in the top of the ninth and loses 4-3 to the Cardinals.
Had the Cubs’ hitter produced a ground ball to the right side to move the runner up, then the following hitter would have had the chance to score the run from third. A runner on third could have added pressure to the pitcher, changed the way the defense was deployed tactically, and altered the pitcher’s approach to the hitter. Instead, the Cardinals were able to play more comfortably with two outs and a runner at second rather than a baserunner at third.
How Important is QAB?
With so many stats in modern baseball and the desire by mathematicians to add value to the game, it is often asked which metrics are important. QAB is similar to the other metrics out there. It is a good stat to use when a general manager is building a team, or a manager wants to see which players are playing well.
Some teams look at on-base percentage, while others consider WAR a valuable metric. Meanwhile, QAB is used by some teams to piece together quality teams.
So, what is QAB in baseball? It means quality at-bat, and its importance differs from team to team. In the end, the importance of QAB may come down to the general manager and/or manager of a big-league ball club. It could be essential to the building of a team, while for some clubs, it isn’t a key metric to base to ball club around.
