I Refuse to Use Swing, Swing Because Some Crappy Band is Famous for It
Some time has passed since we last checked who were the hackers and who were the discplined batters on our little ball team. Because I'm slowly moving into the visual presentation world more so than tables I decided to make a colorful bar graph to reflect the data and a point for me.

Click for a larger view. The seemingly random yellow bar just below the 75% tick represents league average for percentage of balls seen outside of the strike zone that players did not swing at. The maroon-ish color on each bar is the player's O-Swing% (available at FanGraphs) and the blue is "O-Take%" or O-Swing% subtracted from 100. It's not a real statistic in the sense that you can find it listed, but rather a simple modification to the current statistic that probably gives a better understanding of what is "good" and what is "bad".
For the most part we have an above average roster when it comes to taking bad pitches. Only Jason Bartlet, Rocco Baldelli (SSS), Shawn Riggans, and Cliff Floyd rank below 74% and none rank below 70%. Nobody likes it when lovers fight, whether it be Britney Spears and Kevin Federline or Jeff Garcia and Jon Gruden which is why it's encouraging that Upton is so damn good at taking bad pitches and Gross, Iwamura, and Zobrist are all below the 20% swing proportion.
For those who want the table form:
| Player | O-Swing% | O-Take% |
|---|---|---|
| Upton | 14.81 | 85.19 |
| Gross | 17.85 | 82.15 |
| Iwamura | 18.34 | 81.66 |
| Zobrist | 19.82 | 80.18 |
| Pena | 20.96 | 79.04 |
| Aybar | 22.05 | 77.95 |
| Navarro | 22.97 | 77.03 |
| Hinske | 23.74 | 76.26 |
| Longoria | 25.33 | 74.67 |
| Bartlett | 26.45 | 73.55 |
| Baldelli | 26.67 | 73.33 |
| Riggans | 27.34 | 72.66 |
| Floyd | 28.85 | 71.15 |
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Thanks for putting this togther R.J.
Although, the graphic is a bit confusing to me. If you have time, could you also drop the raw data (numbers) somewhere in this post?
Thanks.
This season: 39.7 O-Swing%
So he would be at the very bottom. Last year 41.33%, he would not be listed under the current scale.
by R.J. Anderson on Sep 12, 2008 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions
while I like having both the maroon and blue, people might be confused at having both shown
you really just need the blue — the fewer balls swung at, the better.
nice job with the yellow bar
Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.
Was I the only one not confused?
Dear god NO DAN JOHNSON - thebaddancingraysfan hours before DanJo hit a game tying HR off Papelbon.
Placement is the key.
Dear god NO DAN JOHNSON - thebaddancingraysfan hours before DanJo hit a game tying HR off Papelbon.
I think it works better as a stand-alone.
Meh, we’ll figure it out.
Dear god NO DAN JOHNSON - thebaddancingraysfan hours before DanJo hit a game tying HR off Papelbon.
TWMI!
Dear god NO DAN JOHNSON - thebaddancingraysfan hours before DanJo hit a game tying HR off Papelbon.
i'm a big fan of present data visually, by the way. nice work.
Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.
UPDATING with lineups:
Rays
Iwamura 2B
Zobrist SS
Pena 1B
Floyd DH
Aybar 3B
Hinske LF
Navarro C
Gross RF
Perez CF
Garza P
Yankees
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Molina C
Ponson P
9 = 8
why would you post that here?
Dear god NO DAN JOHNSON - thebaddancingraysfan hours before DanJo hit a game tying HR off Papelbon.
cause i thought you guys would be interested in the lineup and there was no gameday thread. guess not.
9 = 8
You couldn't wait for the GDT?
Dear god NO DAN JOHNSON - thebaddancingraysfan hours before DanJo hit a game tying HR off Papelbon.
This is fun to look at.
Top Josh Paul Pornos- Big Navi Stroking, 2pitchers1cup, BJ to the Balls, Riggans Your Thingans
BELIEVE in 08!
Where would Crawford fall in this chart?
He seems to swing at (and hit) a lot of bad pitches.
BTW, any news on his return?
Pretty cool. How about the inverse?
Or converse, or whatever… strikes taken? This graph shows tendencies of players to make guys throw strikes. But what about batters’ tendencies to do the opposite, allow a pitcher to expand the strike zone by taking strikes?

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