A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show. In the show, an analyst indicated a player’s trouble against 4-seam fastballs. That player used to be selected to the All-Star game. However, this season, he just hasn’t hit well against 4-seamers.
After listening to the show, I began to think about a question. Which players do have problems against 4-seam fastballs this year?
To understand a little bit more, I decided to check on the statcast website.
Last season, Jack Suwinski slashed .224/.339/.454 with 26 home runs and 74 RBI. 26 home runs and 74 RBI are both his career high. Nevertheless, he only slashes .175/.269/.299 thus far in 2024. A major problem is that Suwinski only hits .091 against four-seam fastballs.
From 2021 to 2023, Austin Riley finished each season with an OPS over .800. He crushed 108 home runs over the last 3 seasons. Nonetheless, this season, he hits .245/.319/.388 with 3 home runs and 18 RBI so far. His OPS is not close to .800 yet and a main concern might be his performance against four-seamers. So far this season, Austin Riley’s batting average against four-seamers is only .100.
In 2023, Corbin Carroll won the NL Rookie of the Year award and he was the first Diamondbacks player to win the award. Carroll slashed .285/.362/.506 with 25 home runs and 76 RBI. He had a great season in 2023. Nevertheless, Corbin Carroll hasn’t hit well so far in 2024. He now hits .191/.277/.273 with 2 home runs and 14 RBI across 47 games. In particular, the outcome against four-seam fastballs isn’t good. Corbin Carroll has a .134 BA against four-seamers thus far this season.
In addition, Randy Arozarena crushed at least 20 home runs in each of the last 3 seasons. Nonetheless, he's now slashing .160/.251/.326 with 8 home runs and 18 RBI over 48 games. Arozarena’s performance hasn’t been good this season. In particular, he only hits .137 against four-seamers.
In January 2024, the Mariners acquired Jorge Polanco from the Twins. Polanco used to blast 33 home runs in 2021. The main reason why the Mariners acquired him is that the team needs him to hit. Nevertheless, Polanco only hits .192/.298/.308 with 5 home runs and 13 RBI. Against four-seamers, it seems that Polanco has some struggles. At the same time, it’s Nolan Schanuel’s second season in the majors. He now hits .244/.314/.359 with 5 home runs and 18 RBI. A batting average of .244 isn’t so bad. Nonetheless, he only hits .140 against 4-seamers.
Finally, Ronald Acuna Jr. has a batting average below .150 against four-seam fastballs by far this season. It’s quite interesting to see Acuna Jr.’s name here. Last season, Ronald Acuna Jr. was fantastic. He hit .337/.416/.596 with 41 home runs and 106 RBI. Moreover, he had 73 stolen bases. Acuna Jr. was a unanimous winner of the NL MVP award. However, things have changed a little bit this year. So far this season, his OPS is below .800. A major problem is that his performance against 4-seamers isn’t so good.
The second month of the 2024 season will come to an end soon. As we can see, some players haven’t hit well against four-seamers so far. In particular, some of them used to play in the postseason last year. Nonetheless, an interesting thing is that Randy Arozarena’s xwOBA against four-seamers is actually over .350. As summer is coming, let’s see if those batters can heat up. And a very important thing is whether some of those hitters will see better outcomes against four-seamers.
No comments:
Post a Comment