Average MLB pitchers throw 62 percent of strikes, whereas better pitchers throw 65 percent of the time, for a strike-to-ball ratio of around 2:1. According to FanGraphs.com, 717,053 pitches were thrown in MLB in 2009. Of those, 269,484 (38%) were declared balls, while 447,569 (62%) were called strikes. Thus, overall, about 6 out of 10 pitches are strikes, which is similar to other major sports. This means that about one out of every two batters gets to hit, which is typical for baseball. A batter's average life in MLB is around 600 plate appearances (PA). In other words, if you make it through your entire career with one team, then you've seen almost all of them play ball in MLB. In addition, there are about 5,000 pitches per season in MLB, so about 20% of games will have at least one pitch within any given batter's range. Finally, 27% of players last more than five seasons in MLB, so there are many opportunities to get into games. Overall, then, about one out of every three pitches is a strike, and about one out of every two batters gets to hit. That's not very often, so take advantage of it when it does happen!