THT Leaderboard: GB/FB for Batters

All stats and graphs have been updated through yesterday’s games. I’ll get to Win Shares later this weekend.

We’ve added something new to the batting stats: Groundball/Flyball ratios for individual batters. We explored the nature of groundballs, flyballs and line drives a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re reporting it for you.

The most extreme groundball hitters in the majors (minimum 50 plate appearances) are:

             Team  LD%  G/F
Castillo J.  PIT  .198  4.0
Castillo L.  FLO  .151  3.9
Suzuki I.    SEA  .200  3.6
Crisp C.     CLE  .205  3.0
Crespo C.    BOS  .157  2.9
Pierzynski A SFG  .175  2.9
Gutierrez R. NYM  .109  2.7
Burroughs S. SDP  .185  2.7
Pierre J.    FLO  .171  2.7
Nunez A.     PIT  .111  2.6
LeCroy M.    MIN  .273  2.6

If you’re hitting groundballs AND you’re not hitting line drives, you better be a pretty fast runner. Witness the struggling Abraham Nunez and the vacationing Ricky Gutierrez. I’ll admit that I’m surprised by Matt LeCroy’s inclusion on this list, though Aaron may not be.

The leading flyball hitters are:

             Team  ISO  G/F
Barajas R.   TEX  .277  0.4
Bonds B.     SFG  .447  0.5
Choi H.      FLO  .315  0.5
Lowell M.    FLO  .310  0.5
Dunn A.      CIN  .279  0.6
Perez T.     PHI  .260  0.6
Mondesi R.   PIT  .141  0.6
Byrnes E.    OAK  .176  0.6
Spiezio S.   SEA  .176  0.6
Ortiz D.     BOS  .270  0.6
Castro R.    FLO  .140  0.6
Valentin J.  CHW  .258  0.6
Salmon T.    ANA  .141  0.6
Blanco H.    MIN  .145  0.6
Sweeney M.   COL  .263  0.6
Thomas F.    CHW  .286  0.6
Gonzalez A.  FLO  .134  0.6

If you hit flyballs and you don’t average AT LEAST the league average Isolated Slugging Average of around .160, you ought to re-think your approach. Take a look at Henry Blanco, Ramon Castro, Alex Gonzalez, Tim Salmon (!) and the vacationing Raul Mondesi. Caveat emptor, Anaheim Angels.

Have a Happy Holiday weekend!