I lied
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Oh well, I guess writing about baseball isn't as much fun as football. Probably because there are already so many good baseball blogs out there while there are so few good football ones.
I have something to complain about though, so that means it is time for a new post.
Spray charts. Specifically, balls hit to the outfield by various Twins this season. The charts I'm posting are all from just the Metrodome because you have to look at them on a per park basis and obv. the Twins get more ABs there than anywhere else.
First, an example of what a certain power hitting 2b is doing this season:
s = single
d = double
t = triple
h = HR
f = flyout (or lineout)
As you would expect from a successful power hitter (especially one who plays a middle infield position) Utley gets most of his hits when he pulls the ball.
How does the Twins #1 power hitter look?
A lot more ground balls, much less hits down the line, but still solid gap pull power. Funny how almost 100% of the times he has pulled the ball and gotten it to the OF it has gone for a hit and usually when he goes the other way its a flyout.
Now their star catcher:
Even more ground balls. More hits to straight left than straight right. Spray spray spray. A higher percentage of the pulled hits are XBH than the pushed ones, not surprisingly.
Now, their big new LF:
Even MORE ground balls, but at least this man can pull the ball. Wait, what? He bats right handed? Oh shit. Greater than 60% of his balls in play are grounders and he doesn't pull the ball, at all. No wonder his ISO power is below 100.
For the record, last year he hit way fewer ground balls (61% in '08, 46.3% in '07) and also had some ability to pull the ball:
At least he is walking more and striking out less than last year. Now if only he could start doing something useful with those extra balls he's putting in play (because lets face it, he isn't putting them out of play... 0 HR)
I think pulling the ball less is one of the big reason's for Kubel's backwards step this season. That and slightly decreased plate presence. But he gets a whole post, so that will have to wait.
I don't know what Joe Vavra's hitting philosophy is, but I do know that he batted .288/.351/.347 over his brief minor league career. I don't think he pulled the ball much either.
A little older, but one of my favorite bands and great summertime music:
Posted bySL__72 at 8:30 PM
Labels: Chase Utley, Delmon Young, Joe Mauer, Joe Vavra, Justin Morneau, Kings Of Leon, Spray Charts
You know what would be really interesting? If you talked about Nate McLouth and how awesome he is. Or, better yet, Bengie Molina. No wait wait, I got it...Brandon "I'm such as beast" Phillips. Where did you get the spray charts???
mlb.com, son
One thing worth noting, mlb tracks where the ball was fielded and I don't think their method is terribly scientific... not that it really matters.
I've recently noticed that delmon young and joe mauer have started to try to pull the ball more. Mauer mentioned it in the paper the other day that he's going to start taking more chances trying to turn on an inside pitch, and delmon young struck out a lot trying to pull the ball recently before crushing a 356 ft homerun over the 355 ft fence in chicago. Do you think vavra is starting to push that, or that is something they're doing on their own?