Posted by: andy (andy_paulus@yahoo.com) on Thu Jul 7 17:02:53 2005

Enough of this debate on pulling the ball-only. This is a list of the top" pull-oriented" hitters of 2003. With the exception of Sheffield, these are not the league's top hitters.

The key to Brian Roberts is more than just pulling the ball.

Hitter Balls In Play Pull Pct.
Tony Batista 426 66.63
Richard Hidalgo 333 65.84
Reggie Sanders 303 65.79
Fred McGriff 202 64.45
Rafael Palmeiro 401 64.29
Jose Cruz 357 64.25
Brian Schneider 233 63.87
Gary Sheffield 443 63.78
Raul Mondesi 364 63.36
Scott Spiezio 373 63.30
Matt Lawton 324 62.98





> I think I've found out why Brian Roberts is having such a good season. He looks for the perfect pitch to pull, and he pulls it 99% of the time. When you pull a ball, the chances of hitting a double are really not that much different than when you hit a ball into the gap or straight away. But your chances of hitting a HOMERUN are greatly increased, because the fences are a shorter distance away. Well, is it any coincidence that Roberts' doubles rate is the same as last years? Is it also any coincidence that his homerun rate is dramatically increased?
>
> The only drawback is that he is a switch hitter, so I cannot accurately tell if this is what is going on by checking out his hit graph, but that is my observation.