Swords
Definition
A ¡°sword,¡± as popularized by Rob ¡°the Pitching Ninja¡± Friedman, is ¡°when a pitcher fools a hitter so badly that he forces a non-competitive swing, one where a batter either regrets his choice or can¡¯t stop himself from taking a hack that looks so ugly it ends up going viral on social media,¡± as we wrote when introducing the topic in 2024.
Essentially, a sword is a swing that looks like this.
A sword is, for lack of a better phrase, a feeling, but like any actual metric it requires a definition to capture a swing that was not fully unleashed. For a swing to qualify as a sword, it must fulfill each of the following requirements:
- The pitch must be a swinging strike (no fouls)
- The bat must cross the front face of home plate
- The swing must be an ¡°incomplete swing,¡± defined as a swing where the head of the bat crosses a line set at 5 inches ahead of the front of the plate but does not return back through it
- The swing must have bat speed that is in the 10th percentile or lower, to make clear that the swing ended up being without serious intent
- The swing must be no more than 20 mph in the final tracked frames, to avoid ¡°full swings¡±
In the first month of 2024, there was slightly more than one sword per team game. While a sword is more of a light-hearted stat than a purely analytical one, it likely also speaks to the ability to fool a batter ¨C whether by deception, pure dominant stuff, sequencing or a combination of all of them.
You may view the current season¡¯s swords leaderboard here.