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Graph of the Day: Average Batted Ball Velocity From Hit f/x

Hitf/x has arrived. Sort of.  If you got an invite for the 2009 PITCHf/x Summit, you can play with April's batted ball data. Or go ahead and register and you'll get access to it.

The first thing I learned was Hit f/x keeps me from sleeping more than two hours.

I have lots of stuff already, looking at data reliablity, batted ball direction etc. etc.  Here's a chunk of one graph, average batted ball velocity. I also have it by pitcher, and I ran % of batted balls > 100 mph.  I'll probably load up the comments with graphs and factoids as I spend my weekend geeking out on the data.  Check back right here for more.

Average MPH of batted balls, at least 30 batted balls in April's data set:

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wow

That’s super cool. Nelson Cruz’s line is interesting. -j

by JinAZ on Jun 6, 2009 9:35 AM EDT reply actions  

% of batted balls allowed >=100mph; 30+ balls in play

Chien-Ming Wang 0.3684
Scott Richmond 0.25
Brad Penny 0.2353
Glendon Rusch 0.2308
Joe Blanton 0.2182
Max Scherzer 0.2174
Sidney Ponson 0.2162
David Purcey 0.2131
Eddie Bonine 0.2121
Livan Hernandez 0.2105
Joel Pineiro 0.2062
Ross Ohlendorf 0.2051
Justin Verlander 0.2045
Brian Tallet 0.2
Carl Pavano 0.2
Zach Miner 0.2
Kenshin Kawakami 0.1967
Anthony Reyes 0.1951
Jason Marquis 0.1932
D.J. Carrasco 0.1887
Mark Hendrickson 0.1884
Matt Harrison 0.1882
Brandon McCarthy 0.1857
Roy Halladay 0.1852
Carlos Zambrano 0.1833

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 9:50 AM EDT reply actions  

That's a huge drop after Wang

I’m assuming there could be some correlation done between this and BABIP.

Mind telling us what data is included? Speed off bat, trajectory?, anything else?

I’m gonna have to quit putting off learning SQL.

by JBrew on Jun 6, 2009 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions  

The data includes

initial speed
horizontal angle (seems pretty reliable, some oddiites)
vertical angle (hmmm, not sure if this is good, I may be slow on the uptake, though)
acceleration xyz (all = 0)
velocity xyz (same as pitch data)
location xyz (probably where the cameras thing the ball was when picked-up, assuming same scale as pitchfx)
avg_lop (according to Mike Fast, this #, lower is better, is the level of agreement on the location between the two cameras)

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions  

Most batted balls without any >= 100mph

Again, April sample from Sportvision only

66 David Eckstein
65 Dustin Pedroia
62 Nyjer Morgan
62 Orlando Cabrera
60 Emilio Bonifacio
55 Jason Kendall
54 Cesar Izturis
53 Dioner Navarro
45 Emmanuel Burriss
45 Chone Figgins
45 Franklin Gutierrez
42 Luis Rodriguez
42 Alberto Gonzalez
40 Chris Getz
38 Kazuo Matsui
37 Nick Punto
35 Anderson Hernandez
35 John Baker
34 Adam Everett
34 Augie Ojeda
33 Aaron Miles
31 Maicer Izturis

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 10:58 AM EDT reply actions  

Average SOB

Pedroia, who sounds like an SOB in that article, ranks 192 out of 241 hitters from the sample (>=30 pitches yadda yadda).

Top 10:

Ryan Howard 93.32249975
Miguel Cabrera 92.59826928
Albert Pujols 91.42537323
Ryan Zimmerman 90.83924241
Mike Cameron 90.08119938
Nelson Cruz 89.90020402
Aramis Ramirez 89.40999933
Adam Dunn 89.31725491
Joey Votto 88.88288892
Justin Morneau 88.85114757

Bottom 10
Jason Kendall 72.48927248
Adam Everett 72.37617622
Cesar Izturis 72.2168521
Ichiro Suzuki 72.00463444
Emilio Bonifacio 71.99450003
Aaron Miles 71.20818167
Nick Punto 71.16864895
Willy Taveras 68.23340936
Emmanuel Burriss 67.03688886
Cameron Maybin 66.86297275

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions  

He probably tries to direct the ball more than some other hitters

which is probably also why Ichiro is nowhere near the top.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Jun 6, 2009 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions  

This could be interesting

Where does Ortiz come in since he has struggled so much this year?

by nolesblogger on Jun 6, 2009 7:29 PM EDT up reply actions  

Big Papi

avg SOB 82.3 which is middle of the pack (119 out of 241) (b’twn Fukudome and Kendrick)
> 100 mph 9.8% which is 145th (Suzuki and Carlos Lee)

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions  

Good point

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Jun 6, 2009 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions  

Surprises

I didn’t think Fred Lewis would be that high. Felipe Lopez was also a huge surprise. Makes me think that maybe this isn’t a fluke season. I also thought Upton would be much higher than that.

A noob or n00b is someone that lacks intellegance or common sense, most people think that noob is a word used only in the online gaming world, but in reality it is becoming an ever popular word with teenage society.

a noob could be simply a level 100 running round shouting ‘’WTF DO I GO!?’’ or someone calling someone else a noob and then getting hit with a brick, anyone can call anyone a noob, but normally they are noobs themselves
-robert_d_wilfong

by cwhitman412 on Jun 6, 2009 11:16 AM EDT reply actions  

Yeah, as a Giants fan that blows my mind about FLew. Now if only we could get him to stop taking third strikes.

Rafael Rodriguez: #8 on our list, n/a on a stat sheet.
BBk supports Sleepy's Law: "As a hoops discussion grows longer, the probability of an absurd trade proposal involving LeBron James approaches 1."

by BrianBokake on Jun 9, 2009 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions  

I’m sure the stats from may and so far in June would move him down.

But, when he decides to swing, he can do some things.

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time."

by Azantor on Jun 10, 2009 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions  

Pitcher SOB

Pitcher avg SOB
Joe Blanton 91.9
David Purcey 91.2
Livan Hernandez 89.3
Anthony Reyes 87.1
Jon Rauch 86.9
Brandon McCarthy 86.3
Trevor Cahill 86.2
Jason Hammel 85.9
Dennis Sarfate 85.8
Glendon Rusch 85.4

Pitcher avg SOB
Jordan Zimmermann 72.4
Edinson Volquez 73.0
Johan Santana 73.9
Josh Johnson 74.5
John Danks 75.2
Christopher Volstad 75.3
Todd Coffey 75.4
Felix Hernandez 75.4
Randy Johnson 75.5
Andrew Miller 75.7

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 4:04 PM EDT reply actions  

Most opp. field batted balls >=100mph

I don’t totally trust/understand the angle data, but I figured I’d share some beta-ish data. Don’t take this to the bank.

Derek Jeter 7
Raul Ibanez 6
Joey Votto 6
Fred Lewis 4
Adrian Gonzalez 4

The group at 3 includes Thomes, Braun, BJ Upton, Manny, Inge, Holiday and others

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 6, 2009 9:23 PM EDT reply actions  

Highest SOB numbers (hitter, pitcher, sob)

‘Ronnie Belliard’, ‘Ricky Nolasco’, 138.52 (!!!)
‘Placido Polanco’, ‘Roy Halladay’, 138.47 (!!!!!!!!!!)
‘Luke Scott’, ‘Phil Coke’, 138.47
‘Adam Dunn’, ‘Ricky Nolasco’, 128.45
‘Ian Kinsler’, ‘Edwin Jackson’, 127.32
‘Brandon Inge’, ‘Jose Contreras’, 125.01
‘Travis Snider’, ‘Kyle Davies’, 122.4
‘Jimmy Rollins’, ‘Jason Marquis’, 120.44
‘Torii Hunter’, ‘Brad Penny’, 120.26
‘Carlos Delgado’, ‘Joel Pineiro’, 118.98
‘Paul Konerko’, ‘James Shields’, 118.31
‘Rickie Weeks’, ‘Carlos Zambrano’, 116.84
‘Lastings Milledge’, ‘Kenshin Kawakami’, 116.84
‘Jayson Werth’, ‘Jason Marquis’, 116.75
‘John Buck’, ‘Josh Rupe’, 116.58

by derekslager on Jun 7, 2009 12:41 AM EDT reply actions  

It'd be interesting to see this comparing SOB vs. the End Speed of the pitch

how well does sob correlate to the speed of the incoming pitch at contact?

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Jun 7, 2009 9:14 AM EDT up reply actions  

it doesn't

I’ll put it in a post here sometime, along with some other findings and non-findings. Check out hardball times Tuesday morning for some baseline-ish stuff.

by Harry Pavlidis on Jun 8, 2009 10:13 PM EDT up reply actions  

Harry, any way to control results by ballpark?

I’m wondering if the park to park quirks in Hit f/x are as larger (larger even?) than the Pitch f/x quirks.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Jun 7, 2009 3:53 PM EDT reply actions  

Not that it makes a difference for some uses...

…but I’m really curious about how much of a park-to-league difference is a data quality issue for Pitch F/X or Hit F/X and how much is a real, distinct park effect.

by cwyers on Jun 7, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions  

I can't wait for a better model of expected BABIP

using hit f/x with other data. Any model that groups Albert Pujols’ Line drives with Adam Everett’s doesn’t work for me.

by lookatthosetwins on Jun 8, 2009 1:58 PM EDT reply actions  

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