Plate Discipline

[Guest]

Do they have advanced stats that go as far back as 2008? I want to see how they compare, as that was the last time I remember the Cubs working the count well and laying off bad pitches.

 

On Sunday, the game winning 9th inning rally started with a walk. Yesterday, Rizzo started off the 8th inning with a walk right before Soler's HR. In the 9th Montero lead off with a walk and almost scored, and the 10th inning started with another Rizzo walk. Great stuff.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=5&season=2008&month=0&season1=2008&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

[UMFan83]

Do they have advanced stats that go as far back as 2008? I want to see how they compare, as that was the last time I remember the Cubs working the count well and laying off bad pitches.

 

On Sunday, the game winning 9th inning rally started with a walk. Yesterday, Rizzo started off the 8th inning with a walk right before Soler's HR. In the 9th Montero lead off with a walk and almost scored, and the 10th inning started with another Rizzo walk. Great stuff.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=5&season=2008&month=0&season1=2008&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

Thanks, I went back and edited my post with the comparison.

[TruffleShuffle]

http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2015/04/20/a-look-at-the-cubs-early-season-plate-approach/

 

apparently bp is now hiring college kids to write articles for them? but this one seems pretty straightforward and sticks to the stats. notable is that the most damaging bats (bryant (small sample size warning), rizzo, soler, fowler) are being pitched very carefully. MLB pitchers presumably don't live under a rock, so they know that they need to approach bryant with extreme caution, despite him being new.

[treebird]

http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2015/04/20/a-look-at-the-cubs-early-season-plate-approach/

 

apparently bp is now hiring college kids to write articles for them? but this one seems pretty straightforward and sticks to the stats. notable is that the most damaging bats (bryant (small sample size warning), rizzo, soler, fowler) are being pitched very carefully. MLB pitchers presumably don't live under a rock, so they know that they need to approach bryant with extreme caution, despite him being new.

 

i have been sort of blown away by how bryant has been pitched. he's obviously high-profile after his track record and his spring, but i thought it was just a given that mlb pitchers started every rookie out with a "well, he hasn't seen MY fastball" period. he's pitched around from day one.

[sontensei]

http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2015/04/20/a-look-at-the-cubs-early-season-plate-approach/

 

apparently bp is now hiring college kids to write articles for them? but this one seems pretty straightforward and sticks to the stats. notable is that the most damaging bats (bryant (small sample size warning), rizzo, soler, fowler) are being pitched very carefully. MLB pitchers presumably don't live under a rock, so they know that they need to approach bryant with extreme caution, despite him being new.

 

i have been sort of blown away by how bryant has been pitched. he's obviously high-profile after his track record and his spring, but i thought it was just a given that mlb pitchers started every rookie out with a "well, he hasn't seen MY fastball" period. he's pitched around from day one.

 

yeah he may go down as the most pitched around rookie without a homer ever

[TruffleShuffle]

http://wrigleyville.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2015/04/20/a-look-at-the-cubs-early-season-plate-approach/

 

apparently bp is now hiring college kids to write articles for them? but this one seems pretty straightforward and sticks to the stats. notable is that the most damaging bats (bryant (small sample size warning), rizzo, soler, fowler) are being pitched very carefully. MLB pitchers presumably don't live under a rock, so they know that they need to approach bryant with extreme caution, despite him being new.

 

i have been sort of blown away by how bryant has been pitched. he's obviously high-profile after his track record and his spring, but i thought it was just a given that mlb pitchers started every rookie out with a "well, he hasn't seen MY fastball" period. he's pitched around from day one.

 

i was glad that he drilled that double on the 2-0 pitch, because i could easily see the meatballs starting to get on him for being too patient since he's hitting cleanup and is supposed to be driving in runs not getting on base.

[TruffleShuffle]

coming into tonight's game, four cubs were in the top 20 in baseball in lowest percentage of pitches in the strike zone:

 

2. rizzo (37.5%) - this one is mostly just fear; i don't think he has the reputation as a guy who will get himself out.

12. fowler (39.4%) - this is a weird one, because he doesn't have that much power and isn't really a free swinger.

18. bryant (40.1%) - combination of fear and trying to get a young guy to chase pitches out of the zone.

20. soler (40.3%) - same as bryant.

 

 

on the negative side, bryant and soler are among the 5 worst players in terms of contact %, and their numbers are pretty similar in terms of making contact to addison russell and alcantara.

[mul21]

coming into tonight's game, four cubs were in the top 20 in baseball in lowest percentage of pitches in the strike zone:

 

2. rizzo (37.5%) - this one is mostly just fear; i don't think he has the reputation as a guy who will get himself out.

12. fowler (39.4%) - this is a weird one, because he doesn't have that much power and isn't really a free swinger.

18. bryant (40.1%) - combination of fear and trying to get a young guy to chase pitches out of the zone.

20. soler (40.3%) - same as bryant.

 

 

on the negative side, bryant and soler are among the 5 worst players in terms of contact %, and their numbers are pretty similar in terms of making contact to addison russell and alcantara.

 

It clearly doesn't account for all of that number, but I would think Fowler hitting leadoff and getting a guy's first sequence of pitches when he's not fully into the game yet might be a contributor. I wonder if other guys see a bump up in the number of balls they see in the 1 spot vs. others in the lineup.

[Clem Fandango]

The Mets threw 170 pitches tonight to the Cubs 133. Robles, Gilmartin, and Torres accounted for 67 of them over 2.2 innings.

[sontensei]

yeah definitely a good trend for the cubbies make em throw more pitches, so they have a higher chance of making a mistake. just keep taking advantage of those mistakes and its golden. (aka no strike out looking guys)

[TheDude]

coming into tonight's game, four cubs were in the top 20 in baseball in lowest percentage of pitches in the strike zone:

 

2. rizzo (37.5%) - this one is mostly just fear; i don't think he has the reputation as a guy who will get himself out.

12. fowler (39.4%) - this is a weird one, because he doesn't have that much power and isn't really a free swinger.

18. bryant (40.1%) - combination of fear and trying to get a young guy to chase pitches out of the zone.

20. soler (40.3%) - same as bryant.

 

 

on the negative side, bryant and soler are among the 5 worst players in terms of contact %, and their numbers are pretty similar in terms of making contact to addison russell and alcantara.

 

The Soler one is also connected to his extreme splits on pitch type. He is murdering fastballs with the best in MLB (top 5 OPS on FBs among all hitters) and also demonstrating very high velocity on batted balls, especially FBs. The metrics support the anecdotal commentary we hear with Soler all the time (especially with JD): he hits the ball really damn hard. Conversely he is one of the worst in MLB with OPS on non-FBs.

 

If I'm a pitcher/catcher/coach and paying any attention to advanced metrics, there's virtually no chance I throw a FB to Soler in the zone.

[Clem Fandango]

So he's Pedro Cerrano?