Keeping your eye on the ball isn’t as easy as it sounds. Batting averages for professional major league baseball players vary widely from year to year. Khris Davis of the Oakland Athletics just made history as the most consistent hitter for any 5-year period.
This consistency stat, called total movement, is calculated by taking the absolute difference of a player’s batting average from one year to the next. Babe Ruth hitting between 1930-1934 is roughly the average for the sample FiveThirtyEight reported on, coming in at about 100 points.
Davis’ total movement is only 4 points. For the past five years his batting average from year to year has virtually gone unchanged. His consistency is remarkable given that he must hit a ball hurled at him at speeds nearing 100mph.
