Pulled balls in the air are the best batted ball type by outcome. Here's how St. Louis has ranked in pull% on fly balls by season, with an annotation. 2017 17th hired Jeff Albert 2018 5th 2019 9th 2020 19th 2021 1st 2022 1st Albert leaves 2023 8th 2024 30th
@enosarris The Cards were 5th in 2018 before Albert was hired prior to 2019. As a result, I think the posted numbers are more a function of Pujols, Carpenter, Arenado and Goldschmidt coming, going, aging, declining, etc. over the last few years.
@enosarris Brandon Belt was so good at pulling the ball and avoiding grounders, but because he got injured as he was about to breakout and also Oracle Park is tough, most Giants fans hate him and wish they had Freeman, Goldschmidt or Rizzo instead.
@enosarris Do you think it’s sticky or just early season noise?
@enosarris In what world does a pulled fly ball correlate to success?
I know team OPS isn’t the best comparison here, but: 2017 12th .760 2018 14th .730 2019 21st .737 2020 26th .694 2021 15th .725 2022 5th .745 2023 13th .742 2024 26th .637 2021 and 2022 especially heavily weight by Goldy & Arenado. Most years this team is below average offensively
@enosarris I’ve always liked to look at fly ball% (or LD%+ FB%) where the denominator is pulled batted balls rather than vice versa- rationale being that the pitch dictates the batted ball direction more than whether it was hit in the air or on the ground. Interested in your opinion.