BDD: 5 Guys to Bank on in ’09
by Bill Baer on January 16th, 2009Posted in Baseball Daily Digest, MLB, Sabermetrics | Print | No Comments »
At Baseball Digest Daily, I’ve suggested five players I think will defy our expectations in the ’09 season. Here’s a snippet:
However, Rollins — who can now be referred to as a seasoned veteran — had an impressive change in his peripherals in ‘08. His walk rate increased by three percent and his strikeout rate decreased by two percent. As such, he doubled his ‘07 strikeout-to-walk ratio. This correlates well with his overall three percent dip in swings. Oddly enough, his contact with pitches outside the strike zone jumped from 68.5% in ‘07 to 78% last season. Probably an aberration, but interesting nonetheless.
Rollins’ line drive rate is back, too! His LD% was at 24%, his highest since 2003, and over a four percent increase from ’07. However, his BABIP didn’t reflect the increased line drive rate, sitting at an average .292. When Rollins had similar line drive rates previously in his career, his BABIP was around .310. Rollins was a bit unfortunate last season on balls in play.
Who do you think will surprise us?
Loading ...
