Swing Softly And...

The FanGraphs Newsletter, August 30, 2024 [READ IN BROWSER]( August 30, 2024 Ever since Major League Baseball released the first drip of its bat tracking data this spring, Davy Andrews has been keeping an eye on a particular leaderboard. He doesn’t know if anybody else cares much about it, but he's been fascinated by the fast swing leaderboard. A fast swing is one where the barrel of the bat is traveling at least 75 mph when it strikes or comes closest to the ball. That number was chosen, [per]( Mike Petriello, “because that’s the line where, on a per-swing basis, a swing goes from negative run value for a hitter to average, on its way to positive.” All things being equal, it’s better to swing hard. On an individual player basis, here’s the correlation between fast-swing rate and wRC+. Roughly speaking, five percentage points of fast-swing rate is worth three extra points of wRC+: Here’s something that may surprise you: Fast-swing rate (R = .48) has a stronger correlation to wRC+ than average bat speed does (R = .41). We assume that this is the case for the same reason that 90th-percentile exit velocity is a more useful stat than average exit velocity. You’re ignoring a big chunk of less useful information and focusing on the swings that can result in real damage. [LEARN MORE]( [I Hope Your Team’s Big Deadline Acquisition Lasted More Than 30 Days]( Only 26 of the 44 major league pitchers traded to contenders in July are still on the active rosters of the teams that acquired them.. | by Michael Baumann [Five Things I Liked (Or Didn't Like) This Week, August 30]( Dangerous speed, dangerous baserunning decisions, and blatant disregard for gravity: It’s just another great week of baseball. | by Ben Clemens [Top of the Order: September Reinforcements Are Coming]( Who might teams add to their rosters come September? | by Jon Becker [The Royals Are For Real, and They're Breathing Down the Guardians' Necks]( In one of the most impressive turnarounds of the Division Era, Kansas City is battling not only for a playoff spot but its first AL Central title since 2015. | by Jay Jaffe [Zac Gallen, Throwback]( Curveballs might be out of fashion these days, but Gallen excels with his anyway. | by Ben Clemens [Garrett Crochet Is Considering Becoming a Craftier Power Pitcher]( The White Sox southpaw, already overpowering, has been pondering his usage rates. | by David Laurila [Oneil Cruz Is No Longer a Shortstop]( Something truly fun has been extinguished. Cruz will be taking his otherworldly gifts and his penchant for errors to the big part of the ballpark. | by Davy Andrews [Are You a Starting Pitcher Who Wants the Platoon Advantage? Too Bad!]( Between switch-hitters, platoons, stacking the lineup with righties against tough lefties, and so on, the net outcome is that most of the time, nobody has the platoon advantage. Except left-handed hitters. | by Michael Baumann 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2210: The Long and Shortstop of It]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [MLB trade deadline winners and losers, one month later]( by Bradford Doolittle, ESPN ($) [10 exciting stat races to follow down the stretch]( by Manny Randhawa, MLB [Francisco Lindor Q&A: The Mets shortstop on his team’s season, Juan Soto pursuit and more]( by Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2024 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 3017 N Underwood StArlington, VA 22213 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](