Statcast unveils bat speed and other metrics

[Frobby]

This isn’t specific to the Orioles, but I figured it belongs here since we’ll all be citing these measures soon enough.   Baby has a new toy!

https://www.mlb.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-statcast-bat-tracking?partnerId=it-20240513-9833659-mlb-1-A&utm_id=it-20240513-9833659-mlb-1-A&lctg=67326645

[Sports Guy]

Gunnar is highest ranked Os player at 16th overall.  Mountcastle is 20th and Cowser is 39th.

Adley is down to 180.

Helps explain how hard these guys are hitting the ball. Adley is hitting it harder this year than before but he’s still down the chart.

I’m guessing we will see that correlation between bat speed and higher exit velos. (Hence Stanton being #1)

[Just Regular]

Justin Turner's overall numbers are still pretty good off a hot start, but he was a notable name on the slowest bat list.

Let's see how Corbin Burnes approaches him tonight.

[Just Regular]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Adley is down to 180.

There's more of Cobb than Ruth in that one.

[Frobby]

Here’s an interesting chart that on one axis has bat speed and on the other has percentage of balls squared up.  Adley is in the upper left quadrant, meaning below average bat speed but high percentage of balls squared up.  The most extreme player in that quadrant is Luis Arraez, who has the lowest bat speed and highest square up percentage of anyone on the chart.  
 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking

Here’s a copy only showing the Orioles (for some reason it appears twice and I can’t delete the redundant image):

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking?attackZone=&batSide=&contactType=&count=&dateStart=&dateEnd=2024-05-13&gameType=&groupBy=&isHardHit=&minSwings=q&minGroupSwings=1&pitchHand=&pitchType=&seasonStart=&seasonEnd=&team=110&type=batter

 

Edited May 13 by Frobby

[btdart20]

https://www.baseballmusings.com/?p=150927

A good synopsis of Tom Tango's work comparing Acuna and Arraez.  (This is the heart of the EBJ debate to some degree.)

[Frobby]

You can see on the Orioles chart that Gunnar has elite bat speed but isn’t sacrificing too much in square up percentage.  For most Orioles, it’s a trade-off.  

Edited May 13 by Frobby

[RZNJ]

Highest bat speed doesn’t mean quickest to the ball.    Also, there is the fast swing stat.  Westburg and Rutschman can swing the bat over 75 but the only do it 6% of the time compared to 57% for Gunnar.  How much of this has to do with being shorter to the ball with 2 strikes and other situations?    Ryan McKenna with 11 swings is 3rd fastest on the team but he’s spent his career getting beaten by fastballs.   Interesting stuff.

[Just Regular]

Batters - Team observations.

BAL is 3rd in Bat Speed, and the only one of the Top 3 to be near average in the "Cobb" component, Squared Uo/Swing.

Juan Soto earned singling out in Petriello's intro as the human pinnacle of capability to combine bat speed and control, but these are things peak Josh Hader and Gerrit Cole and whatever Clayton Kershaw was that time he crushed him knew from previous Octobers.

TOR is last in Bat Speed.    HOU and NYY are at the top of bat control, and still not bad at Bat speed.

The direction of ATL offensive firepower manifests in by far MLB best team bat speed - PIT is the only other team aside from them ahead of the Orioles.

The graphic showing Giancarlo's 10-foot and Arraez's 4-foot path to the ball was baseball beautiful.

[Frobby]

28 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Highest bat speed doesn’t mean quickest to the ball.    Also, there is the fast swing stat.  Westburg and Rutschman can swing the bat over 75 but the only do it 6% of the time compared to 57% for Gunnar.  How much of this has to do with being shorter to the ball with 2 strikes and other situations?    Ryan McKenna with 11 swings is 3rd fastest on the team but he’s spent his career getting beaten by fastballs.   Interesting stuff.

This is a rabbit hole one might dive into and never emerge from.   Fast swing?  Short swing?  Squared-up percentage?  The variations and trade offs are endless.  

[Sports Guy]

20 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Batters - Team observations.

BAL is 3rd in Bat Speed, and the only one of the Top 3 to be near average in the "Cobb" component, Squared Uo/Swing.

Juan Soto earned singling out in Petriello's intro as the human pinnacle of capability to combine bat speed and control, but these are things peak Josh Hader and Gerrit Cole and whatever Clayton Kershaw was that time he crushed him knew from previous Octobers.

TOR is last in Bat Speed.    HOU and NYY are at the top of bat control, and still not bad at Bat speed.

The direction of ATL offensive firepower manifests in by far MLB best team bat speed - PIT is the only other team aside from them ahead of the Orioles.

The graphic showing Giancarlo's 10-foot and Arraez's 4-foot path to the ball was baseball beautiful.

Pound Toronto with fastballs?

[Just Regular]

I suspect Andrew Friedman already knows, but whether the Dodgers prioritize chasing Juan Soto or Roki Sasaki this winter will be the straw that stirs the drink, and maybe more impacts how many AL East titles Jordan Westburg is going to be able to win more than any amount of money the Orioles do or don't spend in the next 4 years.

Hopefully Westburg can keep that "I never lost one" bragging right from Adley, Gunnar, etc. a nice long time.

Edited May 13 by Just Regular

[Sports Guy]

Interestingly, when you remove the qualified at bats total, McKenna is actually third on the team.

[RZNJ]

From Baseball America 

“Langford’s 6.8-foot swing length is the 19th shortest among the 221 players tracked. That’s helpful for contact ability. 

And as you might expect, most of the hitters with the shortest swing lengths are pure contact hiters. Luis Arraez has the majors shortest swing at 5.9 feet. He also has the slowest bat speed in the majors. Arraez is not trying to hit the ball out of the park, he’s focused almost entirely on making contact.

Most of the hitters in this realm are pure contact hitters with modest power, and very few of them have even average bat speeds. Among the 50 shortest swings, only Langford, Colton Cowser, Bobby Witt Jr. and Elias Diaz have a bat speed of 73.0 mph or higher (Langford’s is 74.0).”

P.S.  They have a list of players who generate bat speed with short swings.   Jordan Westburg is the only Oriole to make two separate lists.  Santander makes one.

 

[Jim'sKid26]

Here's an interesting article on the same issue by Eno Sarris of the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/5477905/2024/05/13/mlb-new-bat-speed-numbers/

The last part of the article talks about the rise of injuries related to chasing bat speed. Turns out rib and Oblique ijuries might be the batters equivalent of the UCL for pitchers.