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« Killing the Win won't kill Max Scherzer | Main | Can Anthony Rizzo Handle the Heat? »
Wednesday
Aug212013

Batters: First Pitch of an At Bat

Entering play on Thursday, there had been 73,352 plate appearances and 282,213 pitches seen.

That averages 3.847 pitches per plate appearance.

Some batters see nine or 10 pitches in a plate appearances, some see only two. But the one thing we know, is that every time someone steps up to the plate, the batter sees at least one pitch.

That makes the first pitch of an at bat a pretty interesting variable. Not always statistically significant, but certainly interesting and really kind of fun.

Who swings?

Top 20 batters who swing at the first pitch
  P Swng#
Carlos Gomez (MIL) 463 240
Miguel Cabrera (DET) 528 227
Freddie Freeman (ATL) 484 223
Josh Hamilton (LAA) 505 212
Adam Jones (BAL) 542 205
Ian Desmond (WSH) 510 198
Pablo Sandoval (SF) 448 195
Alexei Ramirez (CWS) 534 193
Chris Davis (BAL) 521 189
Jay Bruce (CIN) 542 186
Yadier Molina (STL) 413 185
Justin Morneau (MIN) 509 185
Mark Trumbo (LAA) 534 181
Hunter Pence (SF) 529 181
Andrew McCutchen (PIT) 525 181
Robinson Cano (NYY) 540 178
Anthony Rizzo (CHC) 532 178
Jose Altuve (HOU) 514 177
Marlon Byrd (NYM) 443 174
Matt Holliday (STL) 460 173

Who gets hits?

Top 20 batters who get hits on the first pitch
  H 2B 3B HR
Miguel Cabrera (DET) 39 3 0 13
Robinson Cano (NYY) 36 5 0 7
Freddie Freeman (ATL) 36 8 1 4
Carlos Gomez (MIL) 34 8 2 6
Adam Jones (BAL) 32 6 1 8
Anthony Rizzo (CHC) 31 9 1 7
Kendrys Morales (SEA) 30 6 0 6
Yasiel Puig (LAD) 29 5 1 5
Yadier Molina (STL) 29 9 0 2
Joey Votto (CIN) 29 5 1 5
Alexei Ramirez (CWS) 28 7 0 0
David Wright (NYM) 27 2 1 4
Andrew McCutchen (PIT) 27 9 1 1
Alcides Escobar (KC) 27 6 0 2
A. J. Pierzynski (TEX) 27 4 0 5
Yunel Escobar (TB) 26 5 0 3
Mark Trumbo (LAA) 26 2 0 8
Ian Desmond (WSH) 26 5 0 1
Hunter Pence (SF) 26 4 1 2
Gerardo Parra (ARI) 26 5 0 2

Who hits homers?

Who hits homers on the first pitch?
  AB HR
Miguel Cabrera (DET) 80 13
Chris Davis (BAL) 54 10
Edwin Encarnacion (TOR) 56 9
Pedro Alvarez (PIT) 48 8
Mark Trumbo (LAA) 67 8
Evan Longoria (TB) 44 8
Adam Jones (BAL) 79 8
Robinson Cano (NYY) 87 7
Anthony Rizzo (CHC) 79 7
Troy Tulowitzki (COL) 46 6
Kendrys Morales (SEA) 61 6
Josh Hamilton (LAA) 72 6
Jose Bautista (TOR) 37 6
Hanley Ramirez (LAD) 40 6
Chris Carter (HOU) 28 6
Carlos Gomez (MIL) 87 6
Bryce Harper (WSH) 49 6

Who misses?

Who swings and misses first pitches?
  Swng# Miss# Miss%
Carlos Gomez (MIL) 240 65 27.1%
Josh Hamilton (LAA) 212 63 29.7%
Jay Bruce (CIN) 186 62 33.3%
Mark Trumbo (LAA) 181 61 33.7%
Ian Desmond (WSH) 198 61 30.8%
Freddie Freeman (ATL) 223 61 27.4%
Chris Davis (BAL) 189 61 32.3%
Pedro Alvarez (PIT) 156 59 37.8%
Adam Jones (BAL) 205 56 27.3%
Marlon Byrd (NYM) 174 55 31.6%
Dan Uggla (ATL) 154 54 35.1%
Miguel Cabrera (DET) 227 53 23.3%
Todd Frazier (CIN) 165 50 30.3%
Justin Upton (ATL) 149 50 33.6%
John Buck (NYM) 167 50 29.9%

Who takes strikes?

Who takes called strikes on first pitches?
  P Strk# ClStk# ClStk%
Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 577 335 278 53.5%
Matt Carpenter (STL) 549 334 266 55.3%
J. J. Hardy (BAL) 496 301 250 56.2%
Martin Prado (ARI) 521 305 248 53.4%
Alex Rios (TEX) 508 298 228 52.1%
Starling Marte (PIT) 536 363 225 56.5%
Mike Trout (LAA) 560 297 224 46.0%
Marco Scutaro (SF) 472 277 223 53.3%
Alejandro De Aza (CWS) 539 327 221 51.0%
Brian Dozier (MIN) 464 268 217 52.5%
Jose Bautista (TOR) 528 311 216 49.9%
Nick Markakis (BAL) 556 315 210 46.6%
Ian Kinsler (TEX) 447 253 209 51.9%
Jason Kipnis (CLE) 512 273 208 46.5%
Ryan Zimmerman (WSH) 471 273 203 50.6%
Carlos Santana (CLE) 490 283 203 49.5%
Nate McLouth (BAL) 470 296 202 53.7%
Alex Gordon (KC) 532 306 201 47.1%
Starlin Castro (CHC) 538 312 200 46.9%
Allen Craig (STL) 509 307 200 49.8%

Who Takes?

Who takes first pitches?
  P Strk# Zone# Ball#
Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 520 278 293 242
Mike Trout (LAA) 487 224 240 263
Matt Carpenter (STL) 481 266 244 215
Joe Mauer (MIN) 469 232 211 237
Martin Prado (ARI) 464 248 260 216
Nick Markakis (BAL) 451 210 197 241
Jason Kipnis (CLE) 447 208 194 239
J. J. Hardy (BAL) 445 250 269 195
Alex Rios (TEX) 438 228 232 210
Jose Bautista (TOR) 433 216 212 217
Alejandro De Aza (CWS) 433 221 204 212
Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS) 430 193 193 237
Elvis Andrus (TEX) 430 198 219 232
Paul Goldschmidt (ARI) 428 188 194 240
Evan Longoria (TB) 427 190 213 237
Alex Gordon (KC) 427 201 183 226
Starlin Castro (CHC) 426 200 216 226
Brett Gardner (NYY) 424 198 186 226
Kyle Seager (SEA) 421 196 174 225
Billy Butler (KC) 421 191 199 230

I told you it was fun

Spend a little time mulling this over and leave some comments. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Reader Comments (1)

Not surprised to see that there weren't any Red Sox players on the list of players who swing the most at the first pitch, seeing as they are a very patient ball club, but I was surprised to see just two Boston players on the list of who takes the most pitches. Perhaps a lot of the players on Boston who are very patient and see a lot of pitches per plate appearance (example - Mike Napoli) just don't have enough plate appearances. Minnesota is also a very patient ball club, and I see Dozier and Mauer popped up on who takes the most pitches and first pitch strikes. Morneau on the other hand seems to be the exception on this team, and I'm curious, was he like that before he suffered the concussion that seems to have altered his career path? He has definitely not been the same guy since that injury occurred, and I'm interested if he was always a big first-pitch swinger or if his approach at the plate has changed. Maybe he could return more to his pre-concussion form at the plate if this the latter is the case with him.

Good stuff as always, and I enjoy reading quite a few of these articles!

August 22, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDan

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