A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show and the host indicated that a team truly struggled against curveballs last season. And, I was wondering whether what he said was true.
So, I went to check on the statcast website to see each team’s performance against curveballs in 2021.
The Toronto Blue Jays were a great offensive team last year. They posted a .796 OPS, best among 30 MLB teams. At the same time, they led the majors with 262 home runs and had a batting average of .266 in 2021. While hitting against curveballs, their batting average was .261, best among 30 MLB teams. The Cincinnati Reds finished the 2021 season with an OPS of .759, tying second best in the National League. They had a batting average of .249 in 2021 and against curveballs, their batting average was .252. The Chicago White Sox won the AL Central title in 2021 and they owned an over .750 OPS. Meanwhile, they were hitting .256 last year and against curveballs, the White Sox batted .250. In addition, the Astros and the Rays each owned a batting average over .230 against curveballs last season. Moreover, 6 other teams each hit over .220 against curveballs. However, for some teams, hitting against curveballs seemed to be quite difficult. Last year, there were 9 teams that each had a batting average below .200 against curveballs. The Royals finished the 2021 season with a batting average of .249. Nonetheless, their batting average against curveballs was only .177. They really got beat by curveballs. In addition, the Brewers won the 2021 NL Central title. However, their hitting performance wasn’t really impressive. Last year, they hit .233 and that was 4th lowest among 30 MLB teams. They also struggled against curveballs with a .186 BA. Furthermore, the Orioles batted .187 against curveballs and their batting average was .239 during the regular season. Here comes something interesting. The Mariners won 90 games in 2021 and the Dodgers were a 106-win team. But, the Dodgers hit just .196 against curveballs and the Mariners’ team batting average against curveballs was .195. Last year, the Mariners batted .226, which was lowest among 30 MLB teams. The Dodgers hit .244 during the regular season, but it seemed that they truly had some problems against curveballs. It’s been more than a month since the 2022 season began and each team has played around 30 games. For those teams that didn’t hit well against curveballs, do things change?
The Rays currently have a batting average over .280 against curveballs and their team batting average is .240. The Red Sox hit .230 thus far, but against curveballs, they do a better job with a .275 BA. Now, the Rockies post a batting average of .259, highest among 30 MLB teams. By far, they bat .274 against curveballs. The Royals didn’t hit well against curveballs last year and by far this season, they hit only .163. Moreover, the Dodgers’ batting average against curveballs is over .200, things are getting better? The Rangers only hit .101 against curveballs and the Diamondbacks’ batting average against curveballs is just .127 so far.
Curveballs are very common in baseball games. We have seen great pitchers such as Clayton Kershaw and Aaron Nola who throw devastating curveballs and it might be really hard to get a hit against those curveballs. If a team can’t hit well against curveballs, they definitely need to figure out the problem and find a solution.
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