Set forth below is a description of a short-hand stat designed to measure how well a batter hits when he hits a fair ball.  I call it “Contact Quality” or “CQ.”

Obviously, BABIP is the most common measure of hitting balls-in-play.  But BABIP excludes home runs, and doesn’t otherwise distinguish between singles and extra-base hits.  One possible approach would be to compute slugging average on fair balls (“fair balls” refers balls-in-play plus home runs).  However, the weights used in slugging average do not accurately reflect the value of different types of base hits.

CQ uses the weights from wOBA, in a simplified fashion, before the adjustment to normalize the scale to OBP.  Rounding the weights, I assign 0.8 for a single, 1.1 for a double, 1.4 for a triple, and 1.7 for a home run.  Or, in other words, 0.5 for a hit and 0.3 per total base.

So, the formula is:  (0.5*H+0.3*TB)/(AB-K)

Interestingly, the average CQ in 2014 was .312, as compared to an average OBP of .314.

CQ is intended to be a simple stat that, together with K% and BB%, gives a pretty good profile of any batter.

If a batter’s CQ is above .400, he is considered a member of Mensa (contact quality division).  In 2014, among qualified batters, the following were Mensa members:

1. Giancarlo Stanton (.453)
2. Mike Trout (.450)
3. Jose Abreu (.435)
4. Chris Carter (.407)
5. Justin Upton (.405)
6. Andrew McCutchen (.404)
7. Matt Kemp (.403)

Rounding out the top 10:

8. Miguel Cabrera (.388)
9. Anthony Rizzo (.387)
10. Marlon Byrd (.386)