A few days ago, I watched some baseball highlights. In a video, a batter was hitting a lot of foul balls. That really made the opposing pitcher work a lot. In the end, the batter crushed a home run. After watching the video, I was just wondering which batters have made opposing pitchers work a lot.
To know a little bit more, I went to check on the great baseball reference website.
Kyle Schwarber now bats .207/.310/.499. Well, Schwarber’s batting average doesn’t look that good. However, he already crushed 34 home runs, leading the NL. Furthermore, Schwarber now has 58 walks, tying 9th in the majors. When facing him, opposing pitchers use 4.39 pitches per plate appearance by far this season. Last season, Schwarber blasted 32 home runs and he saw 4.20 pitches per plate appearance.
It’s Aaron Hicks’ 7th season with the Yankees. He hits .222/.348/.314 with 6 home runs and 32 RBI over 98 games. Those numbers don’t look very good. But, Hicks is quite patient at the plate since he sees 4.38 pitches per plate appearance.
In addition, Ryan McMahon sees 4.37 pitches per plate appearance. He currently has a .242/.339/.397 slash line with 11 home runs and 52 RBI in 106 games. Moreover, he now has 50 walks. Last season, McMahon hit .254/.331/.449 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI. McMahon saw 4.01 pitches per plate appearance last season and he drew 59 walks, which was his career-high. McMahon might reach a new career-high in walks this season.
Meanwhile, Rhys Hoskins is another Phillies player who sees a lot of pitches in each plate appearance. By far, Hoskins sees 4.32 pitches per plate appearance and he slashes .253/.344/.496 with 24 home runs and 54 RBI. Hoskins saw 4.24 pitches per plate appearance last season and by far in his career, he usually let opposing pitchers throw a little bit more with a 4.42 P/PA.
At the same time, Jorge Polanco sees 4.28 pitches per plate plate appearance thus far. He already drew 58 walks. Polanco only drew 45 walks last year and he saw 3.86 pitches per plate appearance. He seems to be more patient this season. Nonetheless, his OPS drops from .826 to .756. When we look at the top 10 chart, Max Muncy sees 4.27 pitches per plate appearance and he now has 60 walks, tying 4th most in the majors. Nonetheless, Muncy only hits .178/.316/.349 with 12 home runs and 39 RBI now. Furthermore, Matt Chapman sees 4.27 pitches per plate appearance as well.
Finally, Kyle Schwarber is now leading the NL with 34 home runs. In the majors, Aaron Judge is the home run leader with 44 home runs. Judge sees 4.23 pitches per plate appearance this season. Moreover, Juan Soto now leads the majors with 97 walks and sees 4.17 pitches per plate appearance.
A batter who usually sees a lot of pitches per plate appearance can be useful because opposing pitchers would be forced to throw more. Perhaps, seeing more pitches can help a batter draw more walks. However, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that a batter who sees more pitches is a great hitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment