Squared-Up%

Simple explanation

Swing just as hard and catch the ball off the end of the bat or near the hands, and it comes off weak. Squared-up looks at how much of the exit velocity that swing and that pitch made possible the hitter actually got.

Reach 80% or more and it counts as a squared-up swing. It doesn't take a hard swing: a slow curveball met squarely by an easy swing, for a single up the middle, can qualify.

Benchmarks

20.0%

Bottom 10%

25.0%

Median

31.7%

Top 10%

Per swing; distribution of the 209 qualified hitters in 2026 bat tracking. Per contact, the 2026 average was 32.3%.

Detailed explanation

The maximum exit velocity only comes when the ball meets the sweet spot, about 4 to 9 inches from the end of the bat. Comparing actual exit velocity with that maximum tells you, in reverse, where on the bat the ball was hit.

The leaderboard shows two versions, per swing and per contact. Whiffs count as 0% only in the per-swing version, so it always comes out lower.

In the first month of 2024, league-wide, squared-up balls hit .371 and slugged .656, while balls that weren't squared up hit .126 and slugged .142. Squared-up contact on a fast swing is counted separately as a blast.