Can you Judge young slugger by exit velocity?

April 14th, 2017

Statcast™ is changing the way we watch baseball, and we're only beginning to figure out how it will revolutionize the game. Mike Petriello, Matt Meyers and special guests discuss what this groundbreaking technology is teaching us.
In this week's episode, the guys lock in on , whose amazing exit velocities haven't always netted the results you might expect.
Mike Petriello: [On Wednesday,] Matt and I were in attendance in the Bronx to watch the Yankees and the Rays, and Aaron Judge destroyed a baseball -- just crushed it to dead center field above the batter's eye. And I don't know if you saw exactly where that ball was when he hit it -- he didn't even get to extend his arms, did you realize that? He had to kind of short-arm it, and he still crushed it, what was it, 437 feet to dead center? Unbelievable.
Matt Meyers: It was like an inside-out forehand crushed out to Monument Park, and it wasn't even the hardest-hit ball he had in the game.

Petriello: No, it wasn't. Earlier in the game, he had a 116.5-mph single that I believe almost took Jumbo Diaz's head off when it went right past him.
Meyers: I was impressed that Jumbo Diaz was quick enough to get out of the way of that. It was absolutely smoked.
Petriello: We're only talking about 29 plate appearances worth of Aaron Judge so far, but he already has five of the 12 hardest-hit balls of the year. We've learned over the first couple of years of Statcast™ that exit velocity, it's not the end-all, be-all, but it's absolutely a skill. It's a skill has; it's a skill doesn't have. And it's pretty clear that it's a skill Aaron Judge has, right? This is what he does, and this is what we're seeing.
Meyers: He's like the first legitimate competition we're seeing for Giancarlo Stanton in terms of pure exit velocity.
Petriello: So I said he had five of the 12 hardest-hit balls of the year. Here's what's interesting, though. If you look at these, two of them are singles, one's a groundout, one's a grounded-into-double-play, and the other one's a fielder's-choice out. It's not like he's got five dingers on these five crushed balls. Actually none of them have been dingers. And I think we learned a little bit about this last year with Giancarlo Stanton at the Home Run Derby, where there is actually too much exit velocity, because you don't get enough loft on the ball. I'm looking at this list here of the 12 hardest-hit balls of the year -- only three of them have been home runs. Which, it's not really what you'd think.
Meyers: Yeah, because to hit the ball as hard as you possibly can, you want to get it flush on the barrel, but that means you're basically gonna get no uppercut. The hardest-hit ball in the Statcast™ Era, 123-plus mph, was a grounded-into-double-play. By Stanton, of course.

Petriello: The hardest-hit ball so far this year, 118.1 mph by , was a groundout. And that's kind of been the Eric Hosmer story a little bit, too -- we know he can hit the ball hard, but it's on the ground. We've been kind of talking about this a lot, like, elevate the ball. What I'm really -- I'm kind of sidetracking this from Aaron Judge for a second, I've noticed -- I'm really excited about right now. We talked about how he had a Top 10 exit velocity last year and was just generally atrocious. And spent all winter talking about how he was gonna teach him to elevate -- Ryan Zimmerman's crushing the ball right now. So that's a guy to watch.
I took us off the Aaron Judge track. But if you look at Aaron Judge: he's cut his strikeouts in half -- again, 29 plate appearances, I know, nothing matters. Where are you on him? Are you buying him?
Meyers: I have always been a bit of an Aaron Judge skeptic. He always struck out a lot in the Minors. And usually strikeout rates in the Minors, because the pitchers aren't as good -- if you strike out at an already somewhat unsustainable rate in the Minors and then do it again in your first cup of coffee in the Majors, to me it's a huge red flag. It's part of why I've never really bought into Joey Gallo either. So I've always been pretty skeptical of Aaron Judge for that reason.
Plus, the track record of 6-foot-7 and taller hitters in Major League history -- admittedly, it's a pretty narrow group, but it's also not a very good one. Players that tall just generally have not succeeded as hitters, for kind of the same reason: it's hard to keep a short swing. There are holes in his swing that can be exploited. So I've always been incredibly skeptical.
The strikeout rate -- strikeout rates generally stabilize a little quicker, so it's too early to say if this is the new Aaron Judge. But this is impressive -- just the amount of quality contact he's making when he's making contact.
Petriello: The other thing about players that large is they have a hard time staying healthy. We've seen this with Stanton over the last couple of years -- a lot of lower-body injuries. There have been very few guys who have been able to last, you know, 10 full years in the big leagues. I don't know if Aaron Judge is gonna be a superstar -- I'm taking the "under" on the .379 OBP he's got right now, I'm taking the under on the .692 slugging he's got right now -- but I don't if he has to be a superstar for me to find him fascinating. He's the closest thing we have to Giancarlo Stanton. Which I feel terrible saying -- the guy's 29 plate appearances into his season -- but it's kind of true.

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com