Bat Speed and Swing Length

“On a night in, night out basis, it’s been hard for us to put together consistency in terms of obviously run scoring, but even getting on base. Our offense has struggled this year, and we hope as guys start to come out of it, we’ll have better days ahead of us.” — Mike Hazen, May 2024

In June, the Diamondbacks’ batting continued to be inconsistent. Will new information (bat speed and swing length) add understand of the problem?

Diamondbacks’ Batters.

The following scatterplot shows bat speed (MPH) and swing length (feet) for Diamondbacks with more than 20 PAs from 1-25 June.

June 1-25, 2024. Data from Baseball Savant.

At a top level, there are two groups of batters – those with high bat speed and long swings, and those with low bat speed and short swings. The best batters in the first group hits the ball with high exit velocities resulting in home runs and RBIs. The best batters in the second group rarely whiff and have high OBPs.

Two batters are unique – Corbin Carroll (CC) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (LG).

Corbin Carroll had a combination of team-leading lowest whiffs and team-leading highest exit velocities. If he masters both at the same time, he is on a path to the Hall-of-Fame. However, there are indications that he has work to do – his homers and RBIs are not yet leading the team. Two examples of excellent AZ Snake Pit articles about Corbin Carrol’s struggles are here and here.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had team-leading homers and RBIs that can’t be explained by bat speed. First, the following table compares Gurriel Jr.’s RBIs to team leaders.

June 2024. Data from Baseball Savant.

In general bat speed and barrels per BBE explain a lot of RBIs. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is an exception because he had a lot more RBIs than expected. How did he do it? Looking deeper, he had 8 hits in 19 PAs. He put the ball in play 16 times in 19 PAs. The other three results were hit-by-pitch and 2 strikeouts.

Ketel Marte. From 1-25 June, the Diamondbacks with the highest average bat speed were Christian Walker, Ketel Marte, and Randal Grichuk. However, more than just having a team-leading average, distribution of bat speeds matters.

The following graph the entire season distributions for batters with the top three bat speeds in June. Their bat speeds are very much above the average in the Majors. The shape of Ketel Marte’s distribution is different than Walker and Grichuk. Instead of having a sharp peak in the middle, Ketel Marte has a plateau. Perhaps that plateau is an indication that he had 2 or 3 ways of hitting the baseball (which gives him an advantage at the plate). That plateau may explain why Ketel Marte is an All-Star this season.

Entire 2024 season through 29 June. Graph courtesy Baseball Savant.

My view is that each batter is developing an approach that allows him to contribute to winning games. In general, there are two types of batters: those who get on base often, and those who help them score. These type types can be labeled fire starters and grill masters per AZ Snake Pit articles here and here. In addition, there are some batters who are on a journey toward their best batting, such as Corbin Carroll.

“...This team is starting to shape and form; the way they are coming together. They can do better than hold serve....” — Torey Lovullo, 25 June 2024

Summary.

In general, there are two groups of batters. Those with high bat speed and long swings who hit a lot of homers and RBIs. And those with low bat speed and short swings, who rarely whiff and have high OBPs.

Corbin Carroll was an exception. He had team-leading lowest whiffs and team-leading highest exit velocities. When/if he masters both at the same time, he is on a path to the Hall-of-Fame.

Bat speed and barrels per batter ball event (BBE) explained a lot of RBIs. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was an exception because he had a lot more RBIs than expected. From 1-25 June, he did it with 8 hits in 19 PAs (plus he reached base on a hit-by-pitch).

Ketel Marte was top-3 in bat speed. Instead of having a sharp peak in the middle, Ketel Marte had a plateau. Perhaps that plateau is an indication that he had 2 or 3 ways of hitting the baseball (which gives him an advantage at the plate). That plateau may explain why Ketel Marte is an All-Star this season.

Looking at bat speed and swing length showed there are different types of batters, each developing an approach that helps him contribute to winning games. Perhaps further investigation could provide insights on how to improve batting consistency.