MLB – Analytics In The Outfield

Bat Speed = Contact?

A question popped up in my mind recently: How does bat speed affect contact rate? We know that higher bat speed leads to better contact, but the question here is on making contact. Intuitively we’d think that more bat speeds leads to a little more time to make a swing decision and the ability toContinue reading “Bat Speed = Contact?”

Putting a bow on the impact of the shift

I wrote over a year ago about the possible impact of banning the shift (Impact of Banning the Shift) and I revisited it for the 2024 season in May (Revisiting the impact of the shift). Now that the 2024 season has ended, let’s look at all the data. Again, we will look at just pulled baseballs onContinue reading “Putting a bow on the impact of the shift”

Isolated OBP

The other day I was thinking about the metric ISO (Isolated Power) which is SLG minus AVG and thought about what a metric of OBP minus AVG would tell us. Of course someone already thought of this, namely Michael Salfino of The Athletic here. It always seems like someone smarter thinks of the good ideasContinue reading “Isolated OBP”

Why are Angels pitchers struggling with two strikes?

Introduction Generally having two strikes is favorable for the pitcher. Hitters are hitting 0.171 in 2023 with two strikes but the Angels are giving up a BA of 0.187. For an 0-2 count it is tougher with hitters hitting 0.151 but the Angels are giving up a league worst 0.209 BA. The question is simple:Continue reading “Why are Angels pitchers struggling with two strikes?”

Breakout of Taylor WARd

For years Taylor Ward had been up and down from the major league level and could not gain consistency. Ward then turned himself from an average major leaguer last season (turning it on in the second half) into an above average major leaguer. Before the 2022 season his career bWAR was -0.4 and he isContinue reading “Breakout of Taylor WARd”

Whiff-le Ball (Part 2: Naïve Model)

We saw in the previous post that there were quite a few differences when a hitter whiffs versus when they don’t. The data was sliced and diced in many ways like the count, state, and pitch. In this post I will be getting into some data science discussing a Naïve Model, which is basically justContinue reading “Whiff-le Ball (Part 2: Naïve Model)”

The 2021 Sho (Part 1: Batter)

To kick off this blog I had to do something with my favorite team, the Angels. My friends and family would say I am obsessed but I will say passionate is the better word. Missed only one home opener the last 15+ years and going to 20+ games every year while having to follow everyContinue reading “The 2021 Sho (Part 1: Batter)”