The percentage of a hitter's batted balls struck at 95 mph or harder.
Hard-hit rate is the share of batted-ball events with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph. It is a simple, stable measure of how often a hitter makes high-quality contact.
Because it counts any batted ball at or above the threshold regardless of angle, hard-hit rate is broader than barrel rate. It is a good first read on contact quality, with barrel rate adding the launch-angle dimension that separates damage from hard ground balls.
Hard-hit rate helps flag hitters whose results lag their contact — a high hard-hit rate with modest power can signal home-run and extra-base upside the market has not priced.
A batted ball is hard-hit when its exit velocity is 95 mph or greater. Hard-hit rate is the share of a hitter's batted balls that clear that line.