Pitches Per Plate AppearanceP/PA

P/PA stands for pitches per plate appearance in baseball. How many pitches a hitter sees per trip to the plate.

How P/PA is calculated

P/PA = pitches seen ÷ plate appearances

Above 4.0 is a patient hitter who runs up a starter’s count; under 3.5 is a first-pitch swinger. Both can hit .300 — it measures approach, not quality.

What counts as a good P/PA?

Half of the 262 qualified MLB players in 2026 were at or below 3.9. Clearing 4.2 put a season in the top tenth of the league.

Median: 3.9
Top 10%: 4.2
Leader: 4.4

By position, the median was 4.0 for DH, 4.0 for 1B, 4.0 for 3B, 3.9 for LF, 3.9 for RF and 3.9 for C.

Qualified: 300+ PA, non-zero, 2026 regular season.