Adam Jones and the 1 pitch at bat

[schittenden]

To try to quantify this, I looked at 0-0 counts where the result of the pitch was either "In Play, Out(s)", "In Play, Run(s)", or "In Play, No Out". Adam Jones has 61 of them on the year. That puts him 11th highest in baseball, tied with Jonathan Schoop. The Top 10 are:

Robinson Cano (72)

Corey Seager (66)

Carlos Gonzalez (66)

Nick Ahmed (65)

Kole Calhoun (64)

Jose Altuve (64)

Alcides Escobar (64)

Marcel Ozuna (63)

George Springer (63)

Yasiel Puig (62)

Adam had 85 in 2015. That ranked him 29th highest in baseball. Jose Altuve was #1 with 139. (Manny Machado was 24th highest with 88.)

Adam had 97 in 2014, which ranked him 16th highest in baseball. Jose Altuve was #1 with 152. That slouch Miguel Cabrera was 8th highest with 105.

[Tx Oriole]

He must lead the majors in this dubious category over the past 3 or 4 years. Anyone care to investigate?

Not me. It just doesn't bother me.

[Can_of_corn]

As long as it is a pitch he can drive I don't care.

I'd rather him swing at a strike on the first pitch than take it like Hardy seems to do the vast majority of the time.

Why put yourself in a 0-1 hole?

[Redskins Rick]

As long as it is a pitch he can drive I don't care.

I'd rather him swing at a strike on the first pitch than take it like Hardy seems to do the vast majority of the time.

Why put yourself in a 0-1 hole?

Everybody is different and how they like to hit, some batters love to watch that first pitch.

Here is an article back from 2014 that debunks the first pitch strike myth. Not sure I totally buy into it, but good read.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/debunking-mlb-first-pitch-strike-myth/

[Phantom]

I feel like every AJ thread is half the people basically saying "I want him to be exactly as good as he is, I just want him to be less frustrating to watch."

[thezeroes]

No batter, that I can seem to find, in all of MLB over the years has ever struck out on the first pitch of the at bat.

Now, taking the first couple of pitches to elevate the pitchers pitch count has a different result. Batters that are No Balls and Two Strikes have a better chance at the K than those that swing at the first pitch.

[Phantom]

Now, taking the first couple of pitches to elevate the pitchers pitch count has a different result.

Elevating a pitchers pitch count is not a good (or bad) thing usually. Bullpen ERAs are usually higher than starter ERAs.

[Frobby]

in 2016, he is batting .305 with a .OPS of .854

Again, like Jagwar said, let the dude swing at the first pitch all he wants.

Adam's first-pitch numbers are not very good. League average is .352 BA, .952 OPS.

As others have pointed out, while in a vacuum hitters get good results putting the ball in play on the first pitch, you have to consider the effect of the times they swing and don't put it in play. In Adam's case, he swings at the first pitch 186 times this year, but only put the ball in play 61 times. So, 2/3 of the time he swings at the first pitch, he finds himself down 0-1 in the count. Of course, many of the first-pitch pitches he swings at are strikes, and he would be down 0-1 even if he didn't swing. It's not really possible to tell how many of those pitches were balls.

Bottom line, there is no one-size fits all correct answer here.

[Redskins Rick]

Adam's first-pitch numbers are not very good. League average is .352 BA, .952 OPS.

As others have pointed out, while in a vacuum hitters get good results putting the ball in play on the first pitch, you have to consider the effect of the times they swing and don't put it in play. In Adam's case, he swings at the first pitch 186 times this year, but only put the ball in play 61 times. So, 2/3 of the time he swings at the first pitch, he finds himself down 0-1 in the count. Of course, many of the first-pitch pitches he swings at are strikes, and he would be down 0-1 even if he didn't swing. It's not really possible to tell how many of those pitches were balls.

Bottom line, there is no one-size fits all correct answer here.

I think its more of a case, the team has back to back losses and now the negativity comes out and lets complain about AJ.

For the most part, the team has been very successful with AJ, batting off.

Is he the book definition of a leadoff hitter, hell no.

Neither was Cakes, but they both got the job done.

[pastorfan]

He's hitting lead off. He has a different responsibility now

So his responsibility is to take good first pitches, get in a whole, then swing at pitches out of the zone and strikeout. The traditional lead-off man is gone. Buck knows pitchers usually throw strikes to begin a game, hence he put him there.

[Aristotelian]

ESPN has Pitches per Plate Appearance. Does not isolate 1st pitch ABs but obviously players with lots of 1st pitch ABs are going to have low PPA and vice versa.

AJ in Schoop appear to be in the bottom 6-7% of the league in PPA.

Then again, Joey Rickard is the best on the O's, but that does not necessarily make him a good hitter.

[schittenden]

Adam's first-pitch numbers are not very good. League average is .352 BA, .952 OPS.

As others have pointed out, while in a vacuum hitters get good results putting the ball in play on the first pitch, you have to consider the effect of the times they swing and don't put it in play. In Adam's case, he swings at the first pitch 186 times this year, but only put the ball in play 61 times. So, 2/3 of the time he swings at the first pitch, he finds himself down 0-1 in the count. Of course, many of the first-pitch pitches he swings at are strikes, and he would be down 0-1 even if he didn't swing. It's not really possible to tell how many of those pitches were balls.

Bottom line, there is no one-size fits all correct answer here.

48 of Adam's first pitch strikes were out of the zone.

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[Frobby]

ESPN has Pitches per Plate Appearance. Does not isolate 1st pitch ABs but obviously players with lots of 1st pitch ABs are going to have low PPA and vice versa.

AJ in Schoop appear to be in the bottom 6-7% of the league in PPA.

Then again, Joey Rickard is the best on the O's, but that does not necessarily make him a good hitter.

Per BB-ref, among qualified hitters, Jones ranks 2nd in the AL in 1st pitch swing %, and Schoop ranks 3rd. Birds of a feather.....

Carlos Gomez of the Astros tops the list.

[Frobby]

48 of Adam's first pitch strikes were out of the zone.

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Interesting. What's your source for that?

[schittenden]

Interesting. What's your source for that?

Statcast data. Although, I think it was actually 51.

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