Derek Jeter's Hit Types

Derek Jeter 2011 Hit Type

	%	AVG	BABIP	SLG	HR%	wOBA
Line Drive	10.0%	.250	.200	.250	0.0%	.180
Fly Ball	10.0%	.200	.200	.200	0.0%	.180
Ground Ball	76.0%	.289	.289	.316	0.0%	.269
Pop Up	2.0%	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	.000
Total In Play	100.0%	.265	.260	.286	0.0%	.241
Total	100.0%	.241	.260	.259	0.0%	.268

Although it's only been 61 plate appearances into 2011, Derek Jeter(NYY) seems to be picking up where he left off last season. His ground ball tendencies seem to be intensifying and even when he does get under a ball, he doesn't get much distance on it. In case you happened to notice, bunt data is not included in the chart which is why the percentages don't add up to 100.

Since Jeter's major hitting woes appeared to begin in 2010, here's his combined 2010 and 2011 hit type data, followed by his prior two seasons.

Derek Jeter 2010-2011 Hit Type

	%	AVG	BABIP	SLG	HR%	wOBA
Line Drive	15.9%	.660	.640	.920	2.0%	.669
Fly Ball	16.2%	.294	.229	.686	7.8%	.392
Ground Ball	65.5%	.245	.245	.260	0.0%	.226
Pop Up	1.2%	.000	.000	.000	0.0%	.000
Total In Play	100.0%	.318	.305	.431	1.6%	.322
Total	100.0%	.267	.305	.362	1.3%	.314

Derek Jeter 2008-2009 Hit Type

	%	AVG	BABIP	SLG	HR%	wOBA
Line Drive	19.8%	.756	.747	.977	2.3%	.753
Fly Ball	20.3%	.308	.209	.790	12.1%	.437
Ground Ball	57.0%	.267	.267	.273	0.0%	.242
Pop Up	1.5%	.059	.059	.059	0.0%	.053
Total In Play	100.0%	.373	.352	.518	2.9%	.380
Total	100.0%	.319	.352	.444	2.5%	.366

Watching Jeter hit has been pretty frustrating over the last year. The ground ball tendencies wouldn't be so annoying if he was making better contact overall. The drop in average on his line drives has been a big problem for Jeter. Since he's not really a home run hitter, he relies more on liners to prop up his average and power numbers. Jeter's .640 BAbip on line drives since the start of the 2010 season puts him in the bottom 8% of all major league hitters. I'd love to say that he's hit a rough patch of luck, but it's just not the case.

Derek Jeter Contact & SLG% (Click to enlarge)

I posted Jeter's contact graphics a few months ago but I figure they're worth revisiting. The one area he tends to hit the ball well is also the area he has been making less contact. If Jeter is experiencing an overall drop in bat speed, it would explain why he's making less contact in his power zone, as well as why his ground ball and line drive averages are down. The balls he puts in play would not be hit as hard, making it a lot easier for opposing defenses to field and convert them into outs. I'm not saying this is the case, but it would certainly explain a lot.

The Yankees and the Three Home Run Bears

The Yankees lead the majors in team home runs hit this season.  The types of pitches they hit for long balls can be demonstrated with three particular players and opponents pitch velocity.  First, a look at the team as a whole:

Yankees home run by release velocity and location, 2011.New York batters hit fast pitches high and low, and slower pitches in the middle.  The papa bear here is Alex Rodriguez, who likes his pitches high and fast:

Alex Rodriguez home runs by release velocity and location, 2011.Alex, one of the great sluggers of all time, can handle the high, hard stuff.  This alos gives him power to all fields, as he hit two homers to left this season, one to center and one to right.

Russell Martin comes in as mama bear, who likes his pitches soft and hanging:

Russell Martin, home runs by release velocity and location, 2011.Martin has not been much of a slugger in his career, but he's killing mistakes in the middle of the plate this season.

That leaves Mark Teixeira as baby bear, the slugger where every pitch is just right:

Mark Teixeira, home runs by release velocity, 2011.He hits them high, he hits them low, he hits them fast, he hits them slow.  New York's diverse set of sluggers gives them the ability to take any kind of pitcher deep somewhere in the lineup, and their tremendous power to start the season vaulted them to first place in the AL East.

Phil Hughes' Early Season Blues

Yes, Phil Hughes' fastball velocity is down. We get it. Is that his only problem? Probably not, but it sure makes it harder for him to be successful with his other pitches. Let's take a look at how he's locating compared to the last three seasons.

Phil Hughes Pitch Location (All Pitch Types) (Click to enlarge)

The major difference so far has been Hughes' attempt to come in on lefties. The main reason for this is that he's been relying on his cutter more over his first two starts, while shying away from his velocity-challenged fastball.

Phil Hughes Pitch Selection vs. LHB

	FB%	CHNG%	CURV%	SLD%	CUT%
2008-10	63.5%	4.4%	20.5%	1.3%	10.2%
2011	11.9%	6.0%	13.4%	0.0%	68.7%

Phil Hughes Pitch Selection vs. RHB

	FB%	CHNG%	CURV%	SLD%	CUT%
2008-10	61.5%	0.1%	17.0%	3.2%	18.1%
2011	12.9%	1.4%	20.0%	0.0%	65.7%

Having to rely more on his cutter has not produced positive results for Hughes. Batters are hitting .412 off it, compared to .290 in his three previous seasons; he's only induced a handful of swings and misses on the pitch as well. In his three previous seasons, Hughes was able to get opposing righties to chase his cutter out of the zone 38.4 percent of the time. So far this season, he's produced just 2 total swings on 21 cutters out of the zone to RHB. This could be a sign that his location is somewhat iffy. But it could also be a side effect of the ineffectiveness of his fastball. With batters seeing the cutter more, it's likely easier for them to lay off the pitch when it's thrown to the outside edge of the plate. And the reduced velocity on his fastball means batters have more time to identify the pitch, differentiating it from the cutter.

Phil Hughes vs. LHB

	P	PA	K%	BB%	Miss%	Strk%	Foul%
2008-10	2806	666	20.3%	11.4%	18.2%	62.7%	46.6%
2011	67	17	0.0%	5.9%	3.0%	70.1%	48.5%

Phil Hughes vs. RHB

	P	PA	K%	BB%	Miss%	Strk%	Foul%
2008-10	2700	676	22.0%	5.5%	21.5%	67.6%	46.2%
2011	70	16	6.3%	18.8%	6.7%	55.7%	53.3%

With only two starts under his belt, you can't really get too bent out of shape about any of these numbers, although they don't inspire much confidence going forward. His swing and miss rate is pretty awful even for the limited sample. Basically, opposing batters are making contact on 95 percent of their swings against Hughes. He's obviously not going to be racking up the Ks at that rate.