Major League Baseball Hitting Stats Reach Lowest Point In Generations

BusinessSportsMoneyMajor League Baseball Hitting Stats Reach Lowest Point In GenerationsByBarry M. Bloom,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Boomskie on BaseballFollow AuthorMay 15, 2026, 01:46pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Cal Raleigh, last year's all world with 60 homers for the Mariners, is endemic now of MLB's hitting slump with seven homers, a .161 batting average and 62 OPS+. (Photo by Logan Riely/MLB Photos via Getty Images)MLB Photos via Getty ImagesWe’re past the quarter pole of the Major League Baseball season and creeping toward Memorial Day. If there’s a theme to the 2026 season so far, it's that great pitching is dominating good hitting.The league batting average is .240, the lowest since 1968 when hitters hit .237 and it was dubbed the year of the pitcher. That was the lowest recorded batting average for a single season in Major League history. MLB’s answer was to lower the height of the pitching mound from 15 inches to 10 inches.Hitters responded, batting .248 in 1969 and .254 in 1970. Hitting reached a high of .270 in 2000 and has regressed since then.Not even the new rules have made a dent in hitting. The elimination of extreme infield shifts, larger bases, only three pickoff throws, a limit on how relief pitchers can be used, and the pitch clock were supposed to positively impact hitting.None of it has. Overall hitting jumped from .243 in 2022 to .248 in 2023. That increase was ephemeral as the current numbers show. Even the advent of the universal designated hitter in 2022, when pitchers stopped hitting, hasn’t had its desired effect.Blame it on the pitching. The league’s ERA was 4.49 in 2019 and is now 4.10. Total hits allowed has declined from 42,309 in 2019 to 40,138 last year. There are 10,520 now. Home runs, which reached a zenith of 6,776 in 2019, declined to 5,650 last year. There...