TAA 4 - How to Understand Batted Ball Metrics

Pitcher List Fantasy Baseball

The Approach Angle

Nate Schwartz (@_nateschwartz) and Kyle Bland (@blandalytics) discuss how to use a variety of batted ball metrics.

They start by talking about how average exit velocity can be deceptive, and isn't the best way to evaluate how hard hitters hit the ball. Instead, they pivot to talking about HardHit% and get into power stats such as max exit velocity and 90th percentile exit velocity. Then, they move into batted ball metrics that go beyond just how hard the ball is hit, such as Air EV (line drives and flyballs) and barrel rate. Kyle also touches on why PullAir% is an important stat that influences power outside of exit velocity. They wrap up by bringing it all together in xwOBACON, a one stat that measures everything on batted balls.

Articles discussed: Fixing HardHit%: Pitcher Percentile Risers and the Case for K+SC%, Alexander Chase; Exit Velocity: Modeling Average Maximum Athletic Effort, Jonathan Judge; Introducing a Dynamic Hard Hit Rate and "TrueHit", Connor Kurcon; Now Let’s Tweak Hard-Hit Rate Using Spray Angle, Alex Chamberlain; They Don’t Make Barrels Like They Used To, Ben Clemens

Players mentioned: Dominic Canzone, Roman Anthony, Chase Meidroth, Angel Martines, Rhys Hoskins, Coby Mayo, Hunter Goodman, Cal Raleigh, Ozzie Albies, Elly de la Cruz, James Wood, Jordan Walker

Join Our Discord & Support The Show: PL+ | PL Pro - Get 15% off Yearly with code PODCAST

Proud member of the Pitcher List Fantasy Baseball Podcast Network


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

More description

The Approach Angle

Nate Schwartz (@_nateschwartz) and Kyle Bland (@blandalytics) discuss how to use a variety of batted ball metrics.

They start by talking about how average exit velocity can be deceptive, and isn't the best way to evaluate how hard hitters hit the ball. Instead, they pivot to talking about HardHit% and get into power stats such as max exit velocity and 90th percentile exit velocity. Then, they move into batted ball metrics that go beyond just how hard the ball is hit, such as Air EV (line drives and flyballs) and barrel rate. Kyle also touches on why PullAir% is an important stat that influences power outside of exit velocity. They wrap up by bringing it all together in xwOBACON, a one stat that measures everything on batted balls.

Articles discussed: Fixing HardHit%: Pitcher Percentile Risers and the Case for K+SC%, Alexander Chase; Exit Velocity: Modeling Average Maximum Athletic Effort, Jonathan Judge; Introducing a Dynamic Hard Hit Rate and "TrueHit", Connor Kurcon; Now Let’s Tweak Hard-Hit Rate Using Spray Angle, Alex Chamberlain; They Don’t Make Barrels Like They Used To, Ben Clemens

Players mentioned: Dominic Canzone, Roman Anthony, Chase Meidroth, Angel Martines, Rhys Hoskins, Coby Mayo, Hunter Goodman, Cal Raleigh, Ozzie Albies, Elly de la Cruz, James Wood, Jordan Walker

Join Our Discord & Support The Show: PL+ | PL Pro - Get 15% off Yearly with code PODCAST

Proud member of the Pitcher List Fantasy Baseball Podcast Network


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2026-04-01 67 min
Listen elsewhere

Available Results

Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.

No generated results are available for this episode yet.

Transcript

No transcript is available for this episode yet.
Sign in to generate a transcript for review.
Sign in

Chapters

No chapters available.