Batting Ratings

Batting Ratings ratings help determine a batter's offensive skills and performance when they come up to bat or take a lead at first base.

Discipline reflects a batter's ability to recognize balls and strikes and be patient in choosing which pitches to swing at.
A higher DI means more walks and fewer strikeouts, potentially increasing the on-base percentage.
It also affects the likelihood of getting hit by a pitch.

Famous players with high Discipline: Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan

Contact reflects how well the batter can make contact when he decides to swing.
Contact can have the opposite effect of Discipline - dramatically lowering a player's strikeout chances, and slightly affecting their walk chances.
Contact has a very small effect on their ability to get a single or double (sometimes just making contact is enough), and has a slight effect on the Ground Ball/Fly Ball ratio (high contact batters will keep the ball down a little better).
A batter with high CN improves their batting average and on-base percentage. However, more balls in play also mean a higher chance of grounding into double plays.

Famous players with high Contact: Tony Gwynn, Robin Yount, and Joe DiMaggio

Batting indicates a batter's ability to hit for average.
It strongly influences the number of singles and doubles and has a slight effect on triples and home runs.
Batting also slightly affects walks and strikeouts, but not as significantly as DI and CN.
GB/FB ratio is also affected by this - again, presuming that when a player hits for average they tend to keep the ball down a little better.
A batter with a high BA significantly improves their batting average and on-base percentage. (Note that the increase in OBP is primarily due to the increase in batting average.)

Famous players with high Batting: Wade Boggs, Ted Williams

Slugging reflects a batter's power hitting ability.
SL is crucial for hitting home runs as it converts singles into extra-base hits without significantly impacting the batting average.
A higher SL often leads to more walks since pitchers try to avoid power hitters.
However, power hitters also tend to have more strikeouts due to their focus on hitting for power. *High SL players often have a low ground ball/fly ball ratio.

Famous players with high Slugging: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron

Speed reflects a player's running ability on the bases, including their raw speed and baserunning instincts.
Aside from the obvious influence on stolen bases, speed also impacts taking extra bases, tagging up, and breaking up double plays.
The average player will attempt to steal approximately every 1 in 16 chances.
A player with SP=100 will steal about 1 in 2 chances.

Famous players with high Speed: Lou Brock, Willie Mays