AL Homer & Strikeout Percentage Leaders

I wanted to spend a few moments looking at ultimate results, all or nothing, homers vs. strikeouts.

There are 20 players in AL with at least seven homers this season led by Chris Davis, Mark Davis, and Edwin Encarnacion with 11 each.

Rk	Player	HR	Tm
1	Chris Davis	11	BAL
2	Mark Reynolds	11	CLE
3	Edwin Encarnacion	11	TOR
4	Robinson Cano	10	NYY
5	Chris Carter	9	HOU
6	Vernon Wells	9	NYY
7	Nelson Cruz	9	TEX
8	J.P. Arencibia	9	TOR
9	Jose Bautista	9	TOR
10	Mike Morse	9	SEA
11	Evan Longoria	9	TBR
12	Prince Fielder	9	DET
13	Mark Trumbo	9	LAA
14	Alex Rios	8	CHW
15	Adrian Beltre	8	TEX
16	Miguel Cabrera	7	DET
17	Carlos Santana	7	CLE
18	Alejandro De Aza	7	CHW
19	Mike Napoli	7	BOS
20	Ian Kinsler	7	TEX

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/13/2013.

There are 17 players with at least 36 whiffs led by Colby Rasmus and Chris Carter with 54 each

Rk	Player	SO	Tm
1	Colby Rasmus	54	TOR
2	Chris Carter	54	HOU
3	Mike Napoli	50	BOS
4	J.P. Arencibia	48	TOR
5	Adam Dunn	45	CHW
6	Mark Trumbo	44	LAA
7	Josh Hamilton	44	LAA
8	Alejandro De Aza	44	CHW
9	Brandon Moss	43	OAK
10	Will Middlebrooks	42	BOS
11	Chris Davis	38	BAL
12	Mike Morse	38	SEA
13	Drew Stubbs	38	CLE
14	Carlos Pena	38	HOU
15	Mark Reynolds	36	CLE
16	Jason Castro	36	HOU
17	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	36	BOS

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/13/2013.

But who are the batters with a good home run percentage and a decent strikeout percentage?

On this chart you want to be in the lower right corner where you see the effectiveness of Edwin Encarnacion, Robinson Cano, Alex Rios, Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Beltre, J.J. Hardy, and just out of the zone, Jose Bautista.

The lower left corner represents the batters who are lower in terms of strikeouts and lower in terms of homers. This group includes Elvis Andrus, Nick Markakis, Jeff Keppinger, Melky Cabrera, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Torii Hunter, Victor Martinez and others.

The upper right corner is comprised of guys who are hitting some homers, but striking out too much: Colby Rasmus, Chris Carter, Adam Dunn, and Nelson Cruz are some of the folks here.

The upper left corner are guys who are whiffing without showing power. This unenviable group includes Drew Stubbs, Carlos Pena, Jason Castro, Justin Smoak, Josh Hamilton, and assortment of other players you are already not happy with.

Chris Davis is Making Earl Weaver Proud

Chris Davis is one pace to blast 162 homers and drive in 648 runs during the 2013 season. Okay, so the O's first baseman probably won't put Barry Bonds and Hack Wilson to shame this year. But he is off to an historic start, becoming just the fourth player ever to begin the season with a home run in each of his first four games (Willie Mays, Mark McGwire and Nelson Cruz are the others). Davis' eighth-inning grand slam against the Twins was especially fitting on a night when Baltimore honored the late Earl Weaver, who abhorred bunting and played for the big inning with sluggers like Boog Powell and Eddie Murray. Here's how Davis has made the Earl of Baltimore proud.

• Davis has hit two homers apiece off right-handers (Roberto Hernandez and Jeremy Hellickson) and lefties (Jake McGee and Tyler Robertson). The lefty slugger was lousy against same-handed pitching early on during his big league career (he batted .236 and slugged .418 in 298 plate appearances against left-handers from 2008-11), but he's now batting .267 and slugging .533 in 126 PA versus lefties since the beginning of the 2012 season. The sample size is small, but he has significantly cut his miss rate against lefties from 2008-11 (35%) to 2012-present (26.5%).
• Three of his four homers have come on pitches thrown on the outside corner of the plate, with Davis flicking two of them to the opposite field and pulling one to right. Davis has hit 15 homers on pitches thrown outside since the beginning of 2012, tying him with Edwin Encarnacion for third-most among MLB hitters.

Most HR on pitches thrown outside, 2012-Present

• Two of Davis' homers have come on the first pitch. He has as many first-pitch homers from 2012-13 (nine) as former free-swinging teammate Josh Hamilton, and he ranks in the top ten among all MLB batters in first-pitch HR over that time frame.
• Davis also has two home runs on soft stuff, driving a slider and a changeup over the fence. You might think that a hulking, high-strikeout slugger like Davis would struggle against breaking and off-speed pitches, but he actually has the second-most HR in the majors on curves, sliders and changeups since 2012.

Most HR on breaking and off-speed pitches, 2012-13

 

Chris Davis Connecting, Crushing for O's

The Baltimore Orioles enter Wednesday's 7 p.m. tilt with the New York Yankees on ESPN with a 1.5 game lead over the Bombers for second place in the American League East, and first baseman Chris Davis is a major reason why. The former Rangers farmhand had just a 94 OPS+ in parts of four seasons with Texas and posted the same mark with the O's last summer after getting swapped to Baltimore along with Tommy Hunter for Koji Uehara. Given one more chance in 2012, Davis is thriving by making more contact.

The lefty slugger struck out in 31.5 percent of his plate appearances from 2008-11, trailing only new teammate Mark Reynolds and Kelly Shoppach for the highest K rate in the majors over that time frame. Davis was particularly whiff-tastic on pitches thrown high in the strike zone. Check out his contact rate by pitch location from 2008-11, and then the league average for lefty hitters:

Davis' contact rate by pitch location, 2008-11

League average contact rate by pitch location for left-handed hitters, 2008-11

Davis missed 42 percent of the high pitches that he swung at from 2008-11, compared to the 18-19 percent major league average. Danny Espinosa, Reynolds and Russ Branyan were the only hitters to come up empty more often when swinging at high stuff. This year, Davis has made solid gains in connecting on upper-third pitches:

Davis' contact rate by pitch location, 2012

The 26-year-old's miss rate on high pitches has declined to 27 percent. That, in turn, has helped him cut his K rate to 22 percent and tap into the power present in his 6-foot-3, 230 pound frame. Davis has five home runs, matching his 2011 total. And with a 175 OPS+ he ranks behind just the Cubs' equally surprising slugger shedding the Quad-A label, Bryan LaHair (240), and the White Sox' Paul Konerko (194) among first basemen. Davis might not be this good of a hitter, but the extra contact will help him stay in Buck Showalter's lineup and buck concerns that his Pacific Coast League exploits wouldn't translate against pitchers at the highest level.