Kelly Shoppach's Contact Issues

Tommy mentioned his O-Swing% earlier, and RZ provides some pitchfx images for visual effect. Cool stuff, like usual.

about 2 years ago R.J. Anderson 14 comments 1 recs |

Comments

You can really see how he struggles on the CB/SL in his whiff chart:

I can see him chasing a ton of pitches that start in the zone and move down and away (like bendy pitches from righties). He should fit in quite well with Longo and Burrell in this regard.

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by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 2, 2009 5:16 PM EST reply actions

Kills fastballs. Should fit in nicely

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by Tommy Rancel on Dec 2, 2009 5:27 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

AH

you reminded me of a large research post I have been planning to do some time this offseason that relates to your idea of swinging at pitches that start in the zone and then move out.

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by RZ on Dec 2, 2009 6:01 PM EST up reply actions

Bonus graph

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by RZ on Dec 2, 2009 8:59 PM EST up reply actions

These are all his takes

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by RZ on Dec 2, 2009 8:59 PM EST up reply actions

Does the darker color mean multiple pitches in the same spot?

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by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 2, 2009 9:13 PM EST up reply actions

It should

I made the fill 50% transparent in Excel so that you can see almost every one.

If I could, I would rather create some sort of heat map or well colored contour map.

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by RZ on Dec 2, 2009 9:40 PM EST up reply actions

This is interesting stuff RZ

I like this chart a lot. Just for reference, I made a hexbin plot of all swinging strikes on breaking balls to righties in my db:

Shoppach’s distribution looks very similar to the average RHH.

The graph is really wierd though. If you have the vertical strike zone coordinates at about 1.5 to 3.5, it looks like there are many more swinging strikes on breaking balls above the strike zone than below it.

You wanna double check your db for me RZ? I can’t believe that this is actually the case.

by vivaelpujols on Dec 2, 2009 9:46 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

I like this a lot

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by Andy Hellicksonstine on Dec 2, 2009 10:00 PM EST up reply actions

all of the charts and graphs I made for Shoppach are all of his pitches from 08-09

I didn’t divide it by pitch type so they include fastballs and such. And Shoppach has an insanely low zone contact rate.

BTW, I love the hexbin plot and for reminding me that I need to label.

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by RZ on Dec 2, 2009 11:34 PM EST up reply actions

...

The graph is really wierd though. If you have the vertical strike zone coordinates at about 1.5 to 3.5, it looks like there are many more swinging strikes on breaking balls above the strike zone than below it.

I was talking about the hexbin graph, I thought you mind find that interesting.

by vivaelpujols on Dec 2, 2009 11:37 PM EST up reply actions