Blast Rate

Blast rate is the percentage of a hitter's contact swings where they achieve above-average bat speed AND squared-up contact at the same time. It is tracked by MLB's Statcast system and is considered by many analysts to be the single best measure of swing quality.

Why Both Conditions Matter

Bat speed and squared-up contact are two separate outcomes that can happen independently:

• A hitter can swing fast and miss the sweet spot, high bat speed, no square-up
• A hitter can make soft, precise contact on the sweet spot, squared-up but low bat speed
• A hitter can achieve both at once, this is a blast

A blast combines the power of a hard swing with the precision of true barrel contact. This combination is what produces elite exit velocities and hard, damaging contact.

How It Is Calculated

Blast rate uses the following MLB Statcast thresholds:

• Fast swing: At or above the MLB median bat speed (~71-72 mph)
• Squared up: The batted ball meets Statcast's definition of squared-up contact (related to the bat-to-ball efficiency at the sweet spot)

The percentage of contact swings meeting both criteria is the blast rate.

What Blast Rate Tells You

A high blast rate means a hitter is consistently combining their best swing with their best contact. This predicts hard contact, high exit velocities, and run production more reliably than either bat speed or squared-up rate alone.

A hitter with high bat speed but low blast rate is swinging hard but not finding the barrel consistently enough to turn that speed into results. A hitter with high squared-up rate but low blast rate is making contact but not driving the ball.

At the youth level, this concept is useful for coaching even without Statcast data. Watching for swings that are both full-effort and on the sweet spot, as opposed to soft, controlled contact or hard swings that pull off the ball, captures the same idea.