B.J.'s Balls On The Ground

by Erik Hahmann on Feb 9, 2010 9:16 PM EST

I did it. I figured it out. It was so brilliant, yet so simple. Thanks to the new Splits feature at FanGraphs (addicting), I've figured out how to fix B.J. Upton. Just tell him to hit more line drives. That's it. You don't need a new hitting coach or some fancy schmancy formula to fix B.J. Just scream "HIT MORE LINERS!" at him Burgess Meredith style*

*there's probably more to it than that

The table below shows the players who had 300+ at bats last season and their wOBA on the liners they hit. Only one player comes within 90 points of Upton. It's an extremely small sample size, but Albert Pujols only posted a wOBA of .829 on liners last season. So, there's that.

Name	wOBA on Liners
Jason Bartlett	.699
Carl Crawford	.707
Ben Zobrist	.703
Evan Longoria	.785
Willy Aybar	.601
B.J. Upton	.877
Carlos Pena	.787
Gabe Gross	.665
Pat Burrell	.705
Dioner Navarro	.659

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Hat on sideways.

First to say it!

on Twitter @BradleyWoodrum and @CubsStats23

by BWoodrum on Feb 9, 2010 9:24 PM EST reply actions

Oh yeah, and I really like your data, Erik.

Although, GBs didn’t seem to be Upton’s big stuggle — his LD and GB %s both went down. It was his fly balls that really spiked. Maybe he was just pressing?

on Twitter @BradleyWoodrum and @CubsStats23

by BWoodrum on Feb 9, 2010 9:30 PM EST up reply actions

This is interesting stuff, but altogether meaningless.

I’m as positive about Beej as anybody, but I think we’re looking for patterns that aren’t particularly significant when it comes to predicting future success. This being line drive isolation being one of those things.

It is the offseason, though, so there’s not a lot to talk about.

by Suttree on Feb 9, 2010 10:57 PM EST up reply actions

Derek Shelton is wicked impressed with tha Beej's work ethic.

.975 OPS this year.

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by PlayOnWords on Feb 9, 2010 10:59 PM EST up reply actions

His swing is in the best shape of its life.

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 9, 2010 11:13 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah, this post wasn't meant to be meaningful in any way. Just thought it was interesting.

by Erik Hahmann on Feb 9, 2010 11:13 PM EST up reply actions

Word, just being a Debbie Downer for clarity's sake.

by Suttree on Feb 10, 2010 8:42 AM EST up reply actions

If you take his shoulder injury at face value, he'd be hitting more fly balls because he was getting his bat to pitches late.

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by kericr on Feb 10, 2010 12:49 PM EST up reply actions

Ugh such a lame title

by SRQman on Feb 9, 2010 9:27 PM EST reply actions

But FUN news

by SRQman on Feb 9, 2010 9:51 PM EST up reply actions

"Just scream "HIT MORE LINERS!""

At Charlie’s expense, I’m gonna have to tap me memory for another one of my usual useless recollections.

July 29th against New York, I was sitting only two rows back of Charlie, BJ was at the plate (I want to say it was the 8th inning), and Charlie yelled “SWING THE BAT!” Well, sure enough, BJ swung the bat…and missed. Naturally, this prompted some good natured ribbing in response. Charlie’s response? “HIT THE BALL!”

That was great.

by FloridaownsFSU on Feb 9, 2010 9:35 PM EST reply actions

Off-Topic: Anyone else see Beej, Sonny, and Evan at the Lightning game tonight? Showed them in Bolts gear in the crowd.

.829 wOBA sounds ridiculous.

by twenty5psi on Feb 9, 2010 10:34 PM EST reply actions

I had to laugh

at seeing BJ and Longo in Bolts jerseys.

Doesn’t look right.

by FloridaownsFSU on Feb 9, 2010 10:35 PM EST up reply actions

Would anyone be interested in this sort of analysis?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/mauers-performance-by-pitch-location/Particulary the batted ball angles from gameday..

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by RZ on Feb 9, 2010 11:15 PM EST reply actions

Of course

Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Feb 9, 2010 11:18 PM EST up reply actions

Yes.

Many times yes.

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by BWoodrum on Feb 9, 2010 11:32 PM EST up reply actions

Oh yeah, definitely

"I never threw an illegal pitch. The trouble is, once in a while I toss one that ain't never been seen by this generation." - Satchel Paige

by Steve Slowinski on Feb 10, 2010 12:09 AM EST up reply actions

Lookin like a foo

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by Brickhaus on Feb 10, 2010 1:34 AM EST reply actions

.769 for career

A # I found interesting was career BABIP for GB for BJ of .300. For a guy with the reputation f not running hard, this # speaks loudly.
For comps:
Ichiro .313
CC .288
PTB .256
Navi .182 !!!!!!!!!!!

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by FreeZorilla on Feb 10, 2010 4:53 AM EST reply actions

I would think his BABIP numbers would be slightly inflated due to the backwards K's.

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by Andy Hellicksonstine on Feb 10, 2010 8:51 AM EST up reply actions

Thats an interesting perspective

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by FreeZorilla on Feb 10, 2010 10:31 AM EST reply actions

Reply fail to Andy

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by FreeZorilla on Feb 10, 2010 10:31 AM EST up reply actions

To elaborate, less BIP mean that each individual one will carry more weight. If a player is extraordinarily (un)lucky then

it will have more of an impact on the guy with less BIP, compared to a player with more BIP. I would think. I got a correlation of .13 when looking at BABIP & K’s for 154 batters from last year. So that tells me I’m way off base. Of course if your goal is to have a high BABIP then you should just hit more line drives.

Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Feb 10, 2010 10:57 AM EST up reply actions