The Rays are full of contact and power

Earlier in the off-season, Ryan Pollock at SB Nation's Orioles site Camden Chat set about making sense of the team's roster, focusing on contact and power. Keen hitting is the bedrock of every Orioles roster, but these two tools in particular are a renewed focus for the 2016 Rays.

The additions of Corey Dickerson and Steve Pearce, as well as decent hitting role players Logan Morrison and Hank Conger, show a desire to have players with power on the Rays, something the team had let slip out of focus.

Tampa Bay also made a change in approach last season to more contact and aggressive swinging, something that nearly helped the Rays over the hump and into the playoffs as the pitching lagged through injury. The hope is that the aforementioned additions, the returned health of some key contributors (Desmond Jennings, James Loney), and the new approach can coalesce into success at the plate.

So where do the new-look Rays stand?

This was Pollock's approach in his analysis of contact (as judged by Contact%) and power (as judged by ISO):

I gathered Contact% and Isolated Power (ISO) data for all non-pitchers with at least 250 total PA in the years 2012-2015. I chose this threshold to minimize survivor bias; if I only showed qualified players, the Contact and ISO numbers would be artificially boosted, since only players good at one skill or the other stick around to qualify for the batting title.

I then compared each metric to its average to create a "+" score where 100 is average, every point below 100 is 1% worse than average, and every point above 100 is 1% better than average.

Pollock then took his findings and dropped it into a graphical representation, finding the 2016 orioles to be a high power, low contact offense.

The Rays are a different breed, but look to be productive in their own way -- particularly big swingin' Corey Dickerson. One tool tends to be average, and the other above so for the Rays starting position players.

The only players at or below 100 in both categories are Rene Rivera and Brandon Guyer. Here's a table of all Rays players who qualified for Pollock's analysis.

Name	Contact+	ISO+	Percentile
Corey Dickerson	98	167	98.1% (!)
Steve Pearce	98	149	93.9%
Evan Longoria	98	135	86.5%
Kevin Kiermaier	102	120	77.2%
Logan Morrison	105	110	69.1%
Steven Souza	89	128	65.9%
Brad Miller	100	105	58.2%
Hank Conger	96	108	57.2%
Desmond Jennings	101	101	55.3%
Logan Forsythe	106	95	52.8%
Nick Franklin	91	103	44.9%
Brandon Guyer	100	93	42.8%
Rene Rivera	92	94	35.4%
James Loney	112	71	27.7%

Again, not every player on the Rays is covered here. This analysis implemented a 250 PA threshold between 2012-2015, which eliminates guys like Curt Casali or Tim Beckham from consideration.

Most remarkable here are how high Corey Dickerson scores among hitters (he distorted early attempts at building the graph of players above), and how low Loney falls, as it includes his successful seasons at the plate beyond his poor 2015.

Photo credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Let's jump into some player comparisons:

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Carlos Correa	102	166
Mark Teixeira	102	163
Paul Goldschmidt	98	168
Corey Dickerson	98	167
Bryce Harper	95	163

Among baseball players with at least 250 PA since 2012, Corey Dickerson is 12th in the majors by percentile rankings, ranking 18th overall by merely ISO+.

The top ranked players by percentile are Encarnacion, Ortiz, Bautista, Trout, Cabrera, Stanton, C. Davis, Correa, F. Gutierrez, Teixeira, Goldy, and then Dickerson.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Andrew McCutchen	99	150
Carlos Quentin	96	152
Steve Pearce	98	149
Todd Frazier	96	148
Raul Ibanez	96	146

Pearce has been utilized advantageously when healthy, which helps his numbers along. When he is in the lineup for the Rays, expect him high in the order.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Travis Hafner	97	136
Stephen Piscotty	98	135
Derek Dietrich	99	133
Evan Longoria	98	135
Adam LaRoche	98	133
Mitch Moreland	96	135

This is not a ringing endorsement for Longoria's contact and power, the latter of which may be a declining asset.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Jayson Werth	103	123
Travis d'Arnaud	102	123
Neil Walker	103	119
Kevin Kiermaier	102	120
Justin Morneau	103	118

Here's a better feeling comparison. The Outlaw has contemporaries in a wide range of ages and players, but clearly projects as a potent MLB bat. Let's hope that continues.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
A.J. Pierzynski	107	110
Alex Rios	107	108
Scott Rolen	106	109
Logan Morrison	105	110
Yuniesky Betancourt	105	109
Chris Coghlan	103	110

Logan Morrison slots in here alongside one player who could have been a similar acquisition target this off-season: Chris Coghlan. The defensive skill set differs, but the bat profile is similar.

For a more apt comparison, here is Morrison alongside two players he may effectively replace in the Rays lineup:

Name	Contact+	ISO+
John Jaso	103	113
Logan Morrison	105	110
Asdrubal Cabrera	102	111

All three batters are closely ranked in the top third percentile, at 178, 184, and 195 overall.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Ian Desmond	94	127
Nolan Reimold	91	128
Jason Kubel	91	128
Andrew Brown	89	128
Steven Souza	89	128

Souza has struggled with contact, but his strength has come through. However that mere difference of five points from Desmond is a difference of 50 slots in the overall ranking (157 vs. 204).

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Derek Norris	101	106
Paul Konerko	102	103
Brett Lawrie	101	104
Brad Miller	100	105
Wilson Ramos	100	105

The research did not rank players by position, but this is a respectable mark for a short stop. He places quite close to Conger, and four slots below Chase Headley by percentile (both 58%).

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Dexter Fowler	98	108
Chase Headley	97	108
Will Venable	97	108
Hank Conger	96	108
Ryan Flaherty	96	107
Wil Myers	95	107

Now this is an impressive ranking for the switch hitting Conger. He will be difficult to demote at the start of the season, something the Rays are considering given his lack of experience with the major league pitching staff when compared to Rene Rivera and Curt Casali. Only Rivera is out of options among the three.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Matt Dominguez	103	102
Eric Hosmer	103	101
Chris Parmelee	101	102
Desmond Jennings	101	101
Alejandro De Aza	101	100

Jennings appears far down the list, but at a major league average mark overall since 2012. He's played through knee injuries, but his defense has been superb. Being average in contact and power is just fine.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
J.J. Hardy	108	95
Juan Rivera	107	93
Zack Cozart	107	93
Logan Forsythe	106	95
Jason Kipnis	105	95
Gerardo Parra	104	94

This is where Logan Forsythe's career of not-great plate appearances catches up to him in the aggregate. However, his contemporaries of Kipnis and Parra make his percentile ranking (52.8%) not such a poor look.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Sean Rodriguez	92	105
Nick Castellanos	92	105
Kyle Blanks	91	103
Nick Franklin	91	103
Drew Stubbs	90	105
Addison Russell	90	105

Franklin has one stellar season to his name, but still profiles respectably.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Rajai Davis	102	94
Austin Jackson	102	94
Lorenzo Cain	101	95
Brandon Guyer	100	93
Brennan Boesch	100	91
Steve Tolleson	99	91

Overall, the bench player Guyer files in with an eclectic group of hitters. Cain is what he hopes to be.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Delmon Young	94	95
Kristopher Negron	94	95
Jackie Bradley Jr.	93	97
Yasmany Tomas	93	91
Rene Rivera	92	94

Rene Rivera completely revamped his swing this off-season, and only has one season of cuperior hitting to his name. A journeyman, these are not encouraging comps.

Name	Contact+	ISO+
Darwin Barney	114	73
Nori Aoki	114	71
Erick Aybar	112	71
James Loney	112	71
Casey Kotchman	111	71

And finally, there's Loney, whose doubles-hitting game is not the end of the world when productive, but it does showcase him to be heavily weighted toward one side of the scale.

Thanks to Pollack for pulling the numbers. Thanks to the Rays for landing Dickerson and Pearce. This could be a very fun season.