Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 06, 2003
Pulling the Ball

Steve Bonner wrote the other day:

Ok is there by any chance a stat that quantifies a hitters propensity to pull the ball?

There's not one stat per se, but STATS, Inc. does record where each batted ball lands. They break the field into 22 wedges of pie, labeled C to X, third base line to first base line. Using this data, I've come up with a pull percentage. For a left-handed batter, C = 0 and X =1, and each letter in between is the appropriate fraction. For righties, C = 1 and X = 0, and each letter in between is the appropriate fraction. For each player, I add up the value of each batted ball, multiply by 100 and divide by the number of balls into put into play. I call this pull percentage.

If every ball a batter hit were pulled down the line, pull percentage would be 100.0. If every ball were hit down the opposite line, then pull percentage would be 0. So the higher the pull percentage, the more likely the batter is to pull the ball. The pull percentage can be thought of as a direction; 50% means the average ball is hit up the middle.

Here's the table for everyone this year with at least 200 balls in play:

HitterBalls In PlayPull Pct.
Tony Batista 426 66.63
Richard Hidalgo 333 65.84
Reggie Sanders 303 65.79
Fred McGriff 202 64.45
Rafael Palmeiro 401 64.29
Jose Cruz 357 64.25
Brian Schneider 233 63.87
Gary Sheffield 443 63.78
Raul Mondesi 364 63.36
Scott Spiezio 373 63.30
Matt Lawton 324 62.98
Steve Finley 340 62.80
Mark Teixeira 337 62.78
Moises Alou 445 62.58
Garret Anderson 476 62.49
Barry Bonds 279 62.26
Carlos Pena 278 62.13
Einar Diaz 279 62.09
Jeromy Burnitz 278 62.06
Corey Patterson 243 61.81
Jeff Bagwell 414 61.77
Jose Valentin 328 61.66
Melvin Mora 253 61.58
Mark McLemore 212 61.52
Angel Berroa 404 61.50
Mike Lowell 402 61.50
Andruw Jones 405 61.34
Tino Martinez 361 61.21
Austin Kearns 216 61.20
Albert Pujols 450 61.07
Craig Biggio 431 60.98
Keith Ginter 212 60.76
Rich Aurilia 348 60.76
Robin Ventura 265 60.70
Alfonso Soriano 461 60.70
Nomar Garciaparra 519 60.52
Charles Johnson 246 60.43
Bobby Higginson 340 60.42
Javy Lopez 318 60.38
Ramon Santiago 325 60.31
Juan Gonzalez 240 60.22
Craig Monroe 276 60.20
Carlos Beltran 365 60.10
Trot Nixon 323 60.09
Eric Munson 251 60.08
Paul Konerko 338 60.07
Neifi Perez 284 60.06
Wil Cordero 305 60.03
Jody Gerut 336 60.02
Alex S. Gonzalez 368 60.02
Aaron Guiel 222 60.00
Carlos Lee 435 59.89
Alex Gonzalez 357 59.77
Aaron Boone 413 59.74
Robert Fick 314 59.72
Matthew LeCroy 206 59.55
Deivi Cruz 431 59.46
Ty Wigginton 397 59.45
Vinny Castilla 403 59.42
Cristian Guzman 413 59.37
Chris Stynes 316 59.34
Magglio Ordonez 445 59.26
Ruben Sierra 218 59.22
Richie Sexson 392 59.17
Kevin Millar 375 59.11
Mike Lieberthal 370 59.00
Geoff Blum 322 58.96
Doug Mientkiewicz 371 58.95
Luis Gonzalez 447 58.93
Mark Ellis 386 58.89
Juan Encarnacion 451 58.86
Benito Santiago 283 58.79
Jason Varitek 299 58.77
Scott Hatteberg 419 58.75
Morgan Ensberg 263 58.70
Jim Thome 342 58.66
Pat Burrell 314 58.60
Eric Byrnes 298 58.55
Jolbert Cabrera 228 58.48
Michael Tucker 303 58.45
Adam Dunn 242 58.42
Vernon Wells 496 58.42
Toby Hall 350 58.26
Derrek Lee 350 58.23
Shane Spencer 259 58.14
David Ortiz 301 58.06
Mike Sweeney 271 58.02
Alex Rodriguez 409 58.00
Julio Lugo 331 57.98
Jeff Kent 349 57.95
Miguel Olivo 207 57.88
Brady Clark 212 57.82
Luis Rivas 365 57.81
Carlos Delgado 371 57.80
Rondell White 345 57.78
Desi Relaford 376 57.76
John Vander Wal 212 57.73
Damian Rolls 226 57.71
Randall Simon 309 57.70
Vladimir Guerrero 271 57.67
Ramon Martinez 228 57.67
Orlando Cabrera 484 57.65
David Bell 250 57.60
Troy Glaus 238 57.58
Gary Matthews Jr. 328 57.58
Ryan Klesko 304 57.57
Adrian Beltre 370 57.55
Hank Blalock 384 57.50
Frank Thomas 346 57.50
Jason Giambi 341 57.48
Chipper Jones 405 57.43
Sammy Sosa 311 57.37
Marquis Grissom 438 57.35
Cliff Floyd 291 57.32
Preston Wilson 405 57.26
Brandon Phillips 250 57.26
Marlon Anderson 350 57.24
Jason LaRue 225 57.16
Tim Salmon 378 56.98
Josh Phelps 231 56.98
Junior Spivey 222 56.86
Jorge Posada 311 56.84
B.J. Surhoff 239 56.82
Miguel Cairo 215 56.79
Eddie Perez 259 56.66
A.J. Pierzynski 376 56.66
Chris Woodward 262 56.49
Carl Everett 374 56.46
Timo Perez 263 56.42
D'Angelo Jimenez 408 56.40
Sean Casey 448 56.37
Ron Calloway 226 56.32
Rocco Baldelli 432 56.11
J.T. Snow 238 56.06
Hideki Matsui 471 56.01
Adam Everett 262 55.98
Jay Gibbons 450 55.96
Todd Walker 464 55.94
Erubiel Durazo 359 55.94
Chris Singleton 242 55.92
Larry Walker 319 55.84
Johnny Damon 467 55.80
Damian Miller 242 55.79
Geoff Jenkins 366 55.78
Bobby Kielty 276 55.76
Jeff Conine 446 55.73
Scott Rolen 396 55.68
Eric Chavez 418 55.63
Dmitri Young 366 55.62
Shannon Stewart 444 55.58
Rafael Furcal 506 55.56
Xavier Nady 263 55.48
Brian Giles 353 55.46
Eric Karros 257 55.35
Greg Myers 249 55.33
Eric Hinske 283 55.33
Brad Wilkerson 295 55.32
Jimmy Rollins 441 55.25
Miguel Tejada 493 55.25
Luis Matos 303 55.24
Travis Lee 376 55.22
Eric Young 390 55.20
Craig Counsell 225 55.20
Jim Edmonds 298 55.19
Casey Blake 391 55.16
Adam Kennedy 323 55.11
Alex Sanchez 416 55.09
Abraham O. Nunez 208 55.08
Shane Halter 225 55.01
Jacque Jones 366 55.00
Wes Helms 293 54.97
Aubrey Huff 468 54.95
Manny Ramirez 407 54.94
Mark Kotsay 335 54.94
Jason Kendall 455 54.65
Shawn Green 417 54.57
Bengie Molina 371 54.55
Ken Harvey 339 54.54
Mike Bordick 220 54.50
Jason Phillips 306 54.50
Jeff Cirillo 226 54.47
Edgar Renteria 470 54.44
Brent Mayne 266 54.42
Torii Hunter 410 54.40
Randy Winn 424 54.38
Terrence Long 387 54.35
Omar Vizquel 225 54.31
Jose Reyes 238 54.28
Dave Roberts 300 54.25
Ray Durham 272 54.10
David Eckstein 371 54.04
Joe Crede 377 53.99
Dustan Mohr 219 53.97
Ramon Hernandez 353 53.93
Lance Berkman 350 53.88
Carlos Guillen 269 53.78
Alex Cora 349 53.70
Milton Bradley 300 53.70
Reed Johnson 274 53.68
Raul Ibanez 446 53.65
Ichiro Suzuki 524 53.63
Bill Mueller 387 53.62
Warren Morris 234 53.60
Brook Fordyce 255 53.56
Juan Uribe 216 53.55
Bernie Williams 313 53.51
Corey Koskie 315 53.50
Aramis Ramirez 438 53.42
Jack Wilson 411 53.42
Mike Cameron 329 53.42
Kenny Lofton 444 53.42
Alex Cintron 333 53.41
Frank Catalanotto 382 53.39
Brandon Inge 201 53.30
Orlando Hudson 330 53.28
Josh Bard 223 53.24
Roberto Alomar 399 53.23
Ivan Rodriguez 359 53.22
Bret Boone 428 53.16
Brian Roberts 339 53.13
Shea Hillenbrand 374 53.06
Todd Helton 452 52.93
Jay Payton 433 52.63
Juan Pierre 551 52.63
Bo Hart 209 52.59
Derek Jeter 330 52.42
Mark Loretta 449 52.31
Ben Broussard 259 52.12
Coco Crisp 293 52.09
Barry Larkin 205 51.96
Mark Grudzielanek 352 51.95
Ramon Vazquez 303 51.93
Michael Young 485 51.87
Ronnie Belliard 336 51.81
Jose Guillen 357 51.77
Paul Lo Duca 446 51.68
Placido Polanco 427 51.58
Jose Vidro 414 51.48
Marlon Byrd 319 51.47
Marcus Giles 421 51.37
Royce Clayton 358 51.37
Dan Wilson 221 51.37
Gary Bennett 219 51.36
Carl Crawford 437 51.08
John Olerud 401 50.97
Luis Castillo 478 50.97
Sean Burroughs 369 50.90
Edgar Martinez 344 50.84
Edgardo Alfonzo 415 50.83
Joe Randa 374 50.71
Endy Chavez 385 50.48
Jose Hernandez 319 50.17
Jeff DaVanon 223 50.16
Brad Ausmus 330 50.14
Roger Cedeno 330 50.13
Bobby Abreu 395 49.99
Mike Matheny 325 49.77
Orlando Palmeiro 262 48.73
Scott Podsednik 384 48.52
Darin Erstad 216 48.52
Cesar Izturis 406 48.40
Tony Womack 275 47.71
Juan Castro 233 46.35
Rey Sanchez 262 45.95

As you can see, almost everyone pulls the ball somewhat. And even the most extreme pull hitters have an average hit that straight away to the pull field.


Posted by David Pinto at 02:23 PM | Statistics | TrackBack (0)