IntermediateHitting · Pitching
Chase%
Chase Rate
How often a hitter swings at pitches outside the strike zone.
30.5%2026 MLB average (2025: 28.2%)
Simple explanation
Swinging at a pitch outside the zone rarely produces good contact, and laying off it means a ball. A hitter who keeps chasing gives the pitcher no reason to throw him strikes.
Lower is better for hitters, higher is better for pitchers. A pitcher with a high chase rate is good at throwing pitches that look like strikes and then aren't.
Benchmarks
- 22.1%
- Top 10%
- 30.3%
- Median
- 38.0%
- Bottom 10%
From the hitter's side. Distribution of the 135 qualified hitters in 2026.
Detailed explanation
Chase% = swings at pitches outside the zone ÷ pitches outside the zone
The math is the same as FanGraphs' O-Swing%. Each data source draws the zone a little differently, though, so the two sites' numbers don't quite match.
League chase rate rose to 30.5% in 2026 from 28.2% in 2025, while the share of pitches in the zone dropped from 50.6% to 47.5%.
Laying off pitches outside the zone isn't enough if a hitter also takes everything inside it, because he falls behind in the count. That's why it gets read alongside the rate of swings at pitches in the zone (Z-Swing%).