PlateIQ Stat of the Day: 6/17/2018
Note: Unless otherwise noted, stats referenced in this article will always be from the 2017 and 2018 (to date) seasons. Rather than mention it every time I cite a stat, I’ll just use this by default and point it out if I refer to a different time period.
It’s been over a month since I wrote an article, but I promise to do these more frequently going forward. While they won’t be daily, I hope to do at least a few per week, especially on nights with big slates and tournaments.
One of the coolest features of PlateIQ is the “Pitch Type Comparison” and “Hitters vs. Pitch Type” sections at the bottom. While most will gloss over these and focus on the meat at the top, there is plenty to be gleamed from these two sections. The Pitch Type Comparison shows how often the pitcher throws each particular pitch, as well as how effective each is. The Hitters vs. Pitch Type shows the hitters’ numbers after filtering to the pitch type of your choosing.
Stat of the Day: Tanner Roark is a sinkerball pitcher and throws it more than twice as often as any other pitch. The top three bats in the Blue Jays lineup (Granderson, Smoak, Hernandez) have all crushed sinkers since the start of 2016 to the tune of a .445 CXwOBA and a .277 ISO. The rest of the lineup has struggled mightily against the sinker.
In addition to the numbers above, Granderson, Smoak, and Hernandez all have CXwOBAs above .415 and ISOs above .232 against right-handed pitching. Once again, there is a big dropoff with the rest of the lineup.
The Blue Jays implied run total is over 4.5 runs. I expect them to eclipse that total, and if they do, the damage will likely be from the top of the lineup. They make for a cheap 3-man stack on both major sites and should be very low-owned on such a large slate.
