NEW YORK — As warmer weather wraps the United States, a notable increase in offensive performance is being observed in Major League Baseball. The average batting mark has seen a rebound, climbing past the early-season figures from last year.
Currently, hitters are sporting a collective batting average of .242 for the month of April. This is a slight improvement from the .240 benchmark established during the first extensive month of the 2024 season, although it remains lower than the .248 average from April 2023.
The season began with a league-wide batting average of .239 at the conclusion of the opening week. Initially, averages rested at .231 for the partial early week and improved to .243 in the first complete week. However, averages dipped to .228 as of April 7. Following this, there was a notable rise to .243 in the week of April 14, and further climbed to .249 by the week of April 21. The surge continued, reaching .262 during the first three days of this week, as highlighted by Major League Baseball in an update issued Thursday.
Diving deeper into specifics, right-handed batters are maintaining a .242 average, which marks a one-percentage point decrease from the end of April last year. On the other hand, left-handed batters have seen an uptick, achieving a .241 average — a five-percentage point hike.
Reflecting on the previous year, the final season’s batting average sat at .243, a rare low within the post-1900 timeline, trailing behind only specific historical lows like .237 in the year 1968 and .239 in 1908. In contrast, the advent of restrictions on defensive shifts in 2023 saw the average rise to .248.
In terms of game duration, nine-inning matchups are being completed in an average time of 2 hours and 37 minutes, mirroring the time span observed during the equivalent month last year.
Home runs have experienced a modest rise, averaging 2.1 per game compared to the previous 2.0 average. Likewise, stolen bases have edged up to 2.1 from 1.9. Concurrently, there has been a slight reduction in strikeouts, falling to 22.1% of plate appearances from 22.5%, and a minor uptick in walks, now accounting for 9.0% of plate appearances compared to last year’s 8.7%.