Bat speed and the O's

[deward]

The Athletic has a piece out on the new Statcast bat tracking numbers. The gist is, while we're still in the early stages of figuring out what it means and how best to apply it, one of the early lessons is that short, fast swings tend to lead to good results (duh). To that end, they put together a chart of players generating better than average bat speed with shorter than average swings (they're defining those benchmarks as 74 mph or faster for bat speed and 7.5 ft of swing distance or less). Gunnar, Cowser, and Mounty all make that list.

https://theathletic.com/5477905/2024/05/13/mlb-new-bat-speed-numbers/

If you're curious, Adley has put an average bat speed of 69.3 mph (below average), but he does so with a very short swing (7 ft).

 

[deward]

Lol, I see I was a little slow on the trigger here. Perhaps this can be merged with the other thread?

[Moose Milligan]

Looking forward to the cries about Adley's below average bat speed and what that means for  him moving forward.

This is good information, not surprised that Gunnar, Cowser and Mounty are ranking high.  Would have expected Westy in there. 

[orioles119]

Paralysis by over-analysis.

[interloper]

Just one more thing to fret about lol.

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, interloper said:

Just one more thing to fret about lol.

I agree.  It's interesting information but it's also one more thing to wring hands over when it comes to analyzing players, deciding on who to extend/trade for/get rid of, etc.  

[deward]

22 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Looking forward to the cries about Adley's below average bat speed and what that means for  him moving forward.

This is good information, not surprised that Gunnar, Cowser and Mounty are ranking high.  Would have expected Westy in there. 

Westburg is at 70.8. Like Adley though, he squares up a ton of balls. 

[deward]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree.  It's interesting information but it's also one more thing to wring hands over when it comes to analyzing players, deciding on who to extend/trade for/get rid of, etc.  

One of the interesting points from that article is that, similar to pitcher injuries in the chase for more velocity, they expect an uptick in batter injuries (obliques, ribs) as they throw caution to the wind to try and max out bat speed. 

Meanwhile, two-time batting champ Luis Arraez is at the bottom of the bat speed leaderboard, at 62.4.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree.  It's interesting information but it's also one more thing to wring hands over when it comes to analyzing players, deciding on who to extend/trade for/get rid of, etc.  

My guess is that Sig has had this stuff for years.  

I think it will be interesting to track players’ career arc on this stuff.   You figure that players’ bats get slower as they age.  But do they compensate with shorter swings?  How does square up percentage change with age?  

Now Fangraphs has something to do.

 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, deward said:

Westburg is at 70.8. Like Adley though, he squares up a ton of balls. 

I think what @Just Regularsaid in the other thread, there's more Cobb than Ruth to his game is accurate.  Kind of ignores that Cobb slugged at a .512 clip for his career which is always a surprising number to me, but the point stands.  I don't think Adley's going to become that big thumper we've been dreaming on.  I think he'll max out at around 25 a year which is certainly good but he's also going to have 15-18 homer seasons, too.

He'll hit for a consistently good average though.

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, deward said:

One of the interesting points from that article is that, similar to pitcher injuries in the chase for more velocity, they expect an uptick in batter injuries (obliques, ribs) as they throw caution to the wind to try and max out bat speed. 

Meanwhile, two-time batting champ Luis Arraez is at the bottom of the bat speed leaderboard, at 62.4.

Luiz Arraez?  Batting champ, high average hitter with practically no power?  Who cares about guys like that?  Grumble grumble grumble @DrungoHazewood-like quote about batting average leaders grumble grumble grumble.

It does feel that there have been more rib injuries/obliques in recent years.  Thankfully they're not as severe as a TJ surgery to recover from but they are a pain in the ass, that's for sure.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

I think what @Just Regularsaid in the other thread, there's more Cobb than Ruth to his game is accurate.  Kind of ignores that Cobb slugged at a .512 clip for his career which is always a surprising number to me, but the point stands.  I don't think Adley's going to become that big thumper we've been dreaming on.  I think he'll max out at around 25 a year which is certainly good but he's also going to have 15-18 homer seasons, too.

He'll hit for a consistently good average though.

Fine with me.  

Re Cobb: he didn’t hit many homers, but he’s 2nd all time in triples and 4th all time in doubles.  And, his ISO was .156, fairly modest compared to most guys with a .500.+ SLG.
 

[Moose Milligan]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

My guess is that Sig has had this stuff for years.  

I think it will be interesting to track players’ career arc on this stuff.   You figure that players’ bats get slower as they age.  But do they compensate with shorter swings?  How does square up percentage change with age?  

Now Fangraphs has something to do.

 

Yeah, I'd be fascinated to know what Sig and his group have access to.  

I'm assuming they compensate with shorter swings but also probably try to cheat on fastballs a bit more, maybe get more selective on what they swing at.  It's probably not one particular thing they do to compensate but a mix of things here and there.  

[deward]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I think what @Just Regularsaid in the other thread, there's more Cobb than Ruth to his game is accurate.  Kind of ignores that Cobb slugged at a .512 clip for his career which is always a surprising number to me, but the point stands.  I don't think Adley's going to become that big thumper we've been dreaming on.  I think he'll max out at around 25 a year which is certainly good but he's also going to have 15-18 homer seasons, too.

He'll hit for a consistently good average though.

I can't help but wonder if Adley has deliberately slowed things down this year in search of more consistent hard contact. His exit velocities and hard hit rates are fine. I'd be curious what his max bat speed has been, but I don't see that tracked. I suspect he could hit a bunch of home runs if he really wanted to sell out for power, but doesn't want to make that trade off.

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Frobby said:

Fine with me.  

Re Cobb: he didn’t hit many homers, but he’s 2nd all time in triples and 4th all time in doubles.  And, his ISO was .156, fairly modest compared to most guys with a .500.+ SLG.
 

Yep, it's fine with me, too.  

There will be crowing about the lack of power if they ever move him off catcher while he's still here and put him at 1B.