Short Post of the Day: Hackiness

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 17, 2008 11:20 AM EDT

Using Fangraph's leaderboards, here are the 10 players least likely to hack at a pitch outside of the zone:

Name	Team	O-Swing%
Jack Cust	Athletics	12.23%
Marco Scutaro	Blue Jays	12.81%
B.J. Upton	Rays	14.57%
Troy Glaus	Cardinals	14.66%
Daric Barton	Athletics	14.72%
Bobby Abreu	Yankees	14.85%
Chipper Jones	Braves	14.94%
Brian Giles	Padres	15.57%
Jason Giambi	Yankees	15.62%
Johnny Damon	Yankees	16.62%

And the 10 most likely:

Name	Team	O-Swing%
Yuniesky Betancourt	Mariners	34.62%
Josh Hamilton	Rangers	35.18%
Ryan Braun	Brewers	35.28%
Jeff Francoeur	Braves	35.66%
Mike Jacobs	Marlins	35.71%
Bengie Molina	Giants	36.67%
Delmon Young	Twins	38.52%
A.J. Pierzynski	White Sox	38.82%
Carlos Gomez	Twins	39.15%
Vladimir Guerrero	Angels	45.03%

Is it just me or is there a difference between being "aggressive" and being "hacky"? For instance let's say a player has a 20% O-Swing, which is really good, but only sees 3.6 P/PA, not great, but if he's not swinging outside of the zone he's simply attacking the pitches inside of the zone early in the count. Meanwhile a player with a high O-Swing%, no matter the P/PA, is "hacky" to me. Does anyone else have similar definitions?

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not responsive to your questions.

but it is interesting to note that half of the players in the top ten “least likely” are or were with oakland.

by larry on Jul 17, 2008 12:08 PM EDT reply actions

In Moneyball DePodesta I believe referenced O-Swing% as one of the ways they judged their players.

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 17, 2008 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

First thing that jumped out at me, too.

Of course, the other list has some mashers that any team would love to have, but considering total offensive contribution, I bet the top list gets more bang for the buck.

by AnotherAaron on Jul 17, 2008 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Dumb question

Is O-Swing% the percent of balls outside the zone that are swung at or the percent of swings that are at pitches outside the zone?

by joewho112 on Jul 17, 2008 1:19 PM EDT reply actions

Percentage of balls outside of the zone that are swung at.

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 17, 2008 6:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks

by joewho112 on Jul 18, 2008 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions

how about the same thing for swinging at strikes...

would be a nice complement to swinging at balls. it’s nice when hitters lay of balls, but if they’re totally passive and laying off strikes, i’m not as impressed.

also, anyone else worried a bit about Josh Hamilton? he has the talent to continue to still drive many of the pitches outside the zone ala Vlad, but I could see that much swinging hurting him a bit.

by Sky Kalkman on Jul 17, 2008 6:26 PM EDT reply actions

Fangraphs has contact rates by zone

Fangraphs will also tell you who’s makes contact on swings outside the zone and in the zone. A guy who’s swinging outside the zone and making good contact (Vlad) sounds aggressive to me, but a guy who’s just swinging and missing is a hack.

There should also be a category for guys like Joe Mauer and Todd Helton who are low on O-swing%, but high on O-contact%. (Oddly enough, Marco Scutaro is in that category too… with the 11th best rate in O-contact% in baseball)

Cust, on the other hand, is selective in how often he swings, but he has the third-worst in O-contact%. Why not make a graph on the subject?

http://mvn.com/mlb-stats

by pizzacutter on Jul 19, 2008 1:13 AM EDT reply actions