What is pa in baseball?

PA stands for Plate Appearances in baseball. It is a statistic calculated for batters and is the total number of times a batter goes to the plate to face a pitcher. It includes all types of appearances like turning the bat into a pitch, drawing a walk, hitting a sacrifice fly or bunt, or being hit by a pitch. It is different from at-bats, which only count for times when the batter finishes the plate appearance with a hit, an out, or a fielder's choice. PA is a critical statistic for evaluating a batter's performance and is used to calculate other metrics like On-Base Percentage (OBP).