Best Hitters on Inside Pitches

Top MLB Hitters on Inside Pitches (Click to enlarge)

Interesting notes: Alex Rodriguez (NYY) is actually making less contact on inside pitches compared to his three previous seasons (72.2% to 80.9%.)  However, he's yet to strike out on an inside pitch this season.  In his three previous seasons, 19.3% of his plate appearances decided on an inside pitch were strike outs.
Stephen Drew's (ARZ) 2010 batting average on inside pitches ranked in the bottom half of the league; his .636 currently ranks second this season.
Ten of Matt Kemp's(LAD) thirty-one HRs since the beginning of 2010 have come on inside pitches.
Brandon Inge (DET) is swinging at 13.6% fewer inside pitches compared to last season; his .377 BAbip on inside pitches since 2008 is 7th best in all of baseball.
Of Starlin Castro's (CHC) 29 hits this season, 14 have come on inside pitches, including one HR, one triple, and three doubles.

Marlon Byrd Hitting Ropes

Marlon Byrd's .417 BAbip heading into Saturday's action put him 14th among all batters this season with a minimum of 30 plate appearances.  Byrd has a lifetime .327 BAbip, and while there is an element of skill involved in BAbip, it tends to decline with older players.  Part of this is due to a decline in speed - older players aren't able to leg out infield singles like they could in their younger years.

For the Cubs Marlon Byrd, it's quite clear what's propping up his BAbip early in the season.

Marlon Byrd through April 8, 2011

	PA	AVG	SLUG	BABIP	HR%
Totals	31	.323	.419	.417	0.0%
Line Drive	7	.857	1.286	.857	0.0%
Fly Ball	3	.000	.000	.000	0.0%
Ground Ball	12	.333	.333	.333	0.0%
Pop Up	2	.000	.000	.000	0.0%

Six of Byrd's line drives in play have resulted in hits so far this season. Compared to his previous three year average, Byrd has been a little lucky so far this season.

Marlon Byrd 2008-10

	PA	AVG	SLUG	BABIP	HR%
Totals	1691	.291	.456	.324	2.7%
Line Drive	258	.758	1.043	.749	1.2%
Fly Ball	362	.269	.723	.170	11.1%
Ground Ball	600	.252	.283	.252	0.0%
Pop Up	65	.092	.108	.092	0.0%

I guess what's most surprising, if anything could be labeled as such this early, is that Byrd has hit more line drives than fly balls so far. Although it's always important to note that line drives are subjective calls and interpretation varies depending on the scorer. Lastly, compared to his previous three seasons, Byrd has been somewhat lucky on his ground balls so far. Expect his overall BAbip to regress in the coming months as his averages on ground balls and line drives come back down a bit.

Update on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 11:30PM by Jonathan Scippa

Looks like Byrd grounded out twice today, which will drop his groundball average a bit.  But he also got his first hit on a fly ball this season in the first inning, which given the weakness of the hit, was certainly a product of luck.

Willie Bloomquist's Wrigley Field Dinger

Arizona Diamondback Willie Bloomquist rocketed a leadoff home run off of Chicago Cubs starter Randy Wells yesterday afternoon.  It was only the 14th HR in Bloomquist's major league career; in fact, he has more triples in his career (15) than home runs.

Taking a look at Bloomquist's slugging percentage heat map, we see that while he doesn't generate a lot of power, he does hit inside pitches well.

Willie Bloomquist 2008-10 (Click to enlarge)

Randy Wells threw Bloomquist a 2-1 cutter that came up and in, usually a very tough location for a batter to turn on.  However, Bloomquist deposited it into the left field bleacher seats at Wrigley.

Willie Bloomquist vs. Randy Wells (Top 1st, 4/4/11) (Click to enlarge)

The home run traveled 379 feet.  In 2010, Bloomquist, then a Kansas City Royal, hit a game winning home run off a 92 MPH fastball from Detroit Tigers' Alfredo Figaro, which traveled 385 feet and landed in an almost identical location in the left field seats, albeit in Comerica Park.  Where was that pitch located?

Willie Bloomquist vs. Alfredo Figaro (Top 12th, 8/25/2010) (Click to enlarge)

Bloomquist isn't a home run threat by any means.  But pitchers should probably avoid that upper inside portion of the zone to keep it that way.