Player Card: Joe Panik

I like the analysis and the approach to disseminating the data. But seriously, Buster Posey "a poor eye" on fastballs? I don't think so. More likely, as a power hitter and the guy most likely to damage against the fastball, he doesn't see many, if any in the strike zone, therefore occasionally has to "chase" outside for the one fastball per AB he can handle, even though it may be a little bit out of the SZ. Maybe we should ask Joey Votto for his thoughts on the matter.

But I can't disagree with too much else and very neatly pass the eyeball test in all other respects, especially regarding these three hitters. I'm not sure if you could parse the data differently for contact hitters versus power hitter anyway. The conclusions might be slightly different if you did and clearly the hitting approach of a Buster Posey is going to be fundamentally different than a Joe Panik to say nothing of the way pitchers attempt to approach them.


from brooksbaseball.net
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/

Joe Panik

San Francisco Giants

Hitter-At-A-Glance 

Joe Panik has seen 2,903 pitches that have been tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2011 and 2015, including pitches seen in the MLB Regular Season, the MLB Postseason and Spring Training.

In 2015:
Against All Fastballs (930 seen), he has had a league average eye (0.93 d'; 64% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 28% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (0.11 c) with a low likelihood to swing and miss (8% whiff/swing).

Against Breaking Pitches (276 seen), he has had a league average eye (0.66 d'; 59% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 33% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (0.10 c) with an exceptionally low likelihood to swing and miss (17% whiff/swing).

Against Offspeed Pitches (203 seen), he has had a very poor eye (0.62 d'; 67% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 42% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (-0.12 c) with a low likelihood to swing and miss (22% whiff/swing). 

Buster Posey

San Francisco Giants

Hitter-At-A-Glance 

Buster Posey has seen 12,175 pitches that have been tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2009 and 2015, including pitches seen in the MLB Regular Season, the MLB Postseason and Spring Training.

In 2015:
Against All Fastballs (767 seen), he has had a poor eye (0.82 d'; 68% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 36% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and an aggressive approach at the plate (-0.04 c) with a low likelihood to swing and miss (9% whiff/swing).

Against Breaking Pitches (363 seen), he has had a very good eye (0.95 d'; 66% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 30% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (0.05 c) with a low likelihood to swing and miss (20% whiff/swing).

Against Offspeed Pitches (121 seen), he has had a good eye (1.12 d'; 81% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 41% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (-0.33 c) with a below average likelihood to swing and miss (27% whiff/swing). 

Matt Duffy

San Francisco Giants

Hitter-At-A-Glance 

Matt Duffy has seen 1,330 pitches that have been tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2014 and 2015, including pitches seen in the MLB Regular Season and the MLB Postseason.

In 2015:
Against All Fastballs (716 seen), he has had an exceptionally poor eye (0.66 d'; 63% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 37% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (0.00 c) with a below average likelihood to swing and miss (12% whiff/swing).

Against Breaking Pitches (288 seen), he has had a poor eye (0.49 d'; 54% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 35% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a steady approach at the plate (0.14 c) with an above average likelihood to swing and miss (38% whiff/swing).

Against Offspeed Pitches (96 seen), he has had a poor eye (0.75 d'; 80% swing rate at pitches in the zone vs. 54% swing rate at pitches out of the zone) and a very aggressive approach at the plate (-0.46 c) with a below average likelihood to swing and miss (24% whiff/swing). 

'via Blog this'

Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto determined to be great - ESPN

Votto and many others, including pitcher Mike Leake, just completed a complete dismantling of the Giants pitching staff over the course of the last four games. This blast for ESPN's past helps to explain how he did it, borrowing some tidbits from past greats like Ted Williams and one Barry Lamar Bonds.


from ESPN:
Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto determined to be great - ESPN:

"My favorite ability in a player is the combination of aggressiveness and patience," Votto said. "I think it's very difficult to have fewer opportunities to have success and still execute. My favorite player was Barry Bonds, and he got so few opportunities.

'via Blog this'

Votto has committed large chunks of Ted Williams' book "The Science of Hitting" to memory and frequently been mentioned in the same breath with Larry Walker as an accomplished hitter with Canadian roots. But his baseball muse is a hard-charging, Ray Fosse-steamrolling, Prince Valiant-haircut-wearing, malapropism-dropping, autograph-hawking pariah with a tenacious approach from both sides of the plate.

.....

Choo has used Votto as a major resource in his acclimation to the National League. If he's not picking Votto's brain on the pitcher he's about to face, he's eyeballing Votto's at-bats from the dugout or the basepaths for subtle tips on how to approach different situations.

Once they're in the box, the fellow Reds are similarly methodical with their routines. As Choo explains, he wipes his mind clear and basically hits the "re-set'' button before every pitch.

"I can't tell you my approach for your article, but I have a plan,'' he said with all due politeness.

It always comes back to the Ted Williams mantra of getting a good pitch to hit. Votto swings at the first pitch 29.3 percent of the time, which ranks 62nd out of 171 big league hitters and is well above the MLB average of 26.4 percent. But he and Choo both prefer to linger in the box under the theory that every take, swing and snippet of information collected helps tilt the pendulum in their favor. Choo ranks 20th in the majors with 4.19 pitches per plate appearance, while Votto is 22nd at 4.17.

Their most impressive attribute is the ability to lay off sliders in the dirt, fastballs above the letters and other pitches that most hitters find too tantalizing to ignore and too nasty to put in play with authority. Choo has the fourth lowest "chase rate" in the majors at 16.9 percent, and Votto ranks 13th at 18.6 percent.

WHY IS EVERYONE SO S.A.D.???

“Not only so but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
-Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)

The wise words above are part of the answer. Across the nation, we have raised a generation (maybe two) without the benefit of a moral compass. "Anything Goes", "Live and let live" and "Whatever" became the answer whenever there was a question about right and wrong.

And yet it seems like we are hearing more and more about athletes being diagnosed with this disorder.

The list includes:
Ricky Williams
Zach Greinke
Khalil Greene
Joey Votto
and Dontrelle Willis

and it's not entirely out of the range of possibility that this definition at least may have been the cause of Rick Ankiel's implosion as a major league pitcher and Chuck Knoblach's throwing difficulty in New York. Perhaps we can go as far back as the Mets Mackey Sasser and Padres Mike Ivie, whose inability to throw the ball back to the pitcher, derailed a catching career that was heralded as the second coming of Johnny Bench. Maybe "Steve Blass disease" was actually S.A.D.


SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER DEFINITION FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Social anxiety disorder (DSM-IV 300.23), also known as social anxiety[1] or social phobia[2] is a diagnosis within psychiatry and other mental health professions referring to excessive social anxiety (anxiety in social situations) [2] causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some areas of daily life. The diagnosis can be of a specific disorder (when only some particular situations are feared) or a generalized disorder. Generalized social anxiety disorder typically involves a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being judged by others and of potentially being embarrassed or humiliated by one's own actions. These fears can be triggered by perceived or actual scrutiny by others. While the fear of social interaction may be recognized by the person as excessive or unreasonable, considerable difficulty can be encountered overcoming it. Approximately 13.3 percent of the general population may meet criteria for social anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the highest survey estimate, with the male to female ratio being 1:1.5.[3]

Discipline in the schools and in the home were thrown by the wayside as parents feared an overreaching and ever watchful government eye when they dared apply discipline and schools just let bad behavior pollute the entire system.

Note: in a recent post we showed poll results indicating discipline is the top concern in school, above bullying and cheating.

Bullying 14%
Cheating 7%
Attendance 10%
Discipline 43%
All of the above 17%
Other 10%

It may be overly simplistic to some to attribute this rise to the "Everyone gets a trophy" mindset that seems to have taken over society in recent years, but it seems like a development that is worth keeping tabs on.

Apparently, 13% suffer from some form of this disorder, whether it's fear of public speaking, debilitating shyness, etc. that inhibits our careers out on Main Street, so it doesn't seem too far fetched to assume the athlete population would also weigh in at some level.

We seemingly can't comprehend how athletes, whose job it is to perform in intense, pressurized situations could suffer from this as mere mortals do. But it may just be that their athletic gifts allow them to cruise to a level where they have to struggle and face that "fear of failure on a high stage" that seems to be the precursor to the downward spiral.

It is interesting to note that Jayson Stark recently penned an article that directly and pointedly accused some organizations of using this disorder as an excuse to manipulate the placing of players on the disabled list in major league baseball.

Maybe he and his colleagues should have been that forthcoming and strident with the "whispers" they heard about PED abuse in the early days. The organizations may have had to face the music and look themselves in the mirror a little sooner.

I guess we may never go back to the good old days when guys just plain old sucked or were "choke artists". Have to have a fancy scientific name for it.