Hit More Fly Balls

One of the things that happened in my lifetime of watching baseball and baseball broadcasts is the change in what we argue about over time. No one really argues batting average versus on-base percentage any more. Today the biggest point of disagreement I hear on air is about launch angle. The Alex Rodriguez school, which appears to be the way must children have been taught, is to swing down on the ball and catch it square to produce a line drive. The Ted Williams school, which is gaining more acceptance, is to swing on the plane of the flight of the ball, with an uppercut, to give the bat more time to loft a line drive and hit home runs. Obviously, both approaches work. Often lost in these arguments is the fact that there is no one right way to swing or be successful in the game. The trick is to figure out what your strengths are as a player, then maximize those strengths.

When Khris Davis hits fly balls they tend to leave the park. In 2014 he hit line drives. It didn’t do much for his batting average. In 2015, he lofted the ball more, and about 25% of his fly balls left the park. His BA stayed the same, but his slugging percentage surged. He kept that up in Oakland in 2016, and since then increased his percentage of fly balls every year. If 25% of your fly balls leave the park, it makes sense to hit more fly balls! If you want to break Roger Maris‘s AL home run record, hit 240 FBs. Davis now leads the majors with 39 home runs.

Davis made one other change this year, where he reduced his K% a bit leading to a higher BA. The Williams swing helps with that as well. If you are swinging on the plane of the flight of the ball, you are more likely to make contact.

Davis is a very nice example of a hitter developing his strength, and getting better overall due to that process.

from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2PzWJGD