MLB Funbers
By Michael Gallagher
Anytime someone is on pace to break a record, good or bad, it’s always interesting to see why they are on the pace. Chris Davis is on pace to shatter Mark Reynolds’ record of 204 strikeouts (on pace for 257). Here are some stats on Davis that are pretty funny and a slew of other neat stats that follow:
- He is batting .059 when he has two strikes on him.
- He swings and misses 43.2 percent of the time (most in MLB).
- When the ball is in the strike zone, Davis swings and misses 39.6 percent of the time (Reynolds is second-to-last with 31 percent)
Marco Scutaro leads the league with a 94.6 percent contact rate. Scutaro also swings at just 10.6 percent of the pitches outside of the strike zone.
Bengie Molina walks only 1.1 percent of his plate appearances.
Adrian Gonzalez hits a home run on 35.6 percent of his fly balls in play. Chris Davis is second at 28.6 percent.
Nick Johnson hits a line drive 30.2 percent of the time (line drives are hits about 70 percent of the time).
Alfonso Soriano gets a fastball on just 44.3 percent of the pitches he sees (Howard is second with 47.5 percent and Francoeur is third with 48.5 percent).
Albert Pujols has been intentionally walked 16 times this season. Justin Morneau is a distant second with seven.
When the ball is outside of the strike zone, Dustin Pedoria makes contact 89.5 percent of the time he swings.
Chipper Jones (92.8 percent) and Emilio Boniface (93.2 percent) have the worst fielding percentage in the league. Kevin Kouzmanoff has the best percentage among third basemen with 99.2 percent.
Joe Saunders has allowed a league-low 11.2 line-drive percentage on balls in play. Josh Beckett and Justin Verlander are on the other end.
Brett Myers allows home runs on 23.9 percent of his fly balls. Zack Greinke hasn’t given up a bomb yet.
Barry Zito’s run support per game is only 2.15. Kevin Slowey gets 8.36.
Rick Porcello has yet to get an out via the infield fly. Johan Santana gets an infield fly on 22.9 percent of the balls in play.
Jon Lester (.374), Tim Lincecum (.367), and Cliff Lee (.352) have the worst batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in the league. Johnny Cueto (.234) and Brian Tallet (.236) are the league leaders.
Justin Verlander’s fastball is the fastest among starters at 95.5 mph. Wakefield (72.1), Moyer (81), Livan Hernandez (84.6), and Doug Davis (85.1) are bringing up the rear. Verlander also leads with a slider at 89 mph.
Josh Beckett (91.9), Erik Bedard (90.7) and Roy Halladay (90.7) are the only three pitchers that have cut fastballs averaging over 90 mph.
Only seven starters in the league throw a split-finger fastball more than 1 percent of the time (Dan Haren, Randy Johnson, Braden Looper, Kenshin Kawakami, Manny Parra, Ryan Dempster, and Brad Penny). Twenty-three relievers throw the splitter more than 1 percent of the time. The closers are David Aardsma, Matt Lindstrom, Ryan Franklin, Kevin Gregg, Johnathan Papelbon, and Francisco.
Erik Bedard throws a curveball 34.5 percent of the time.
Aaron Cook throws a fastball 86.6 percent of the time.
Javier Vazquez is tied with Johan Santana for the NL strikeout crown with 86 punch outs.
Brett Myers and Scott Baker allow 2.4 home runs per nine innings.
Javier Vazquez leads the league with a 70.2 percent contact rate against. Jon Garland is last with 90.5 percent.
Batters swing at 52.6 percent of the pitches throw by Scott Baker. Johan is second with 51.9 percent and Joba Chamberlain has the lowest with 36.9 percent.
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