I think of adjustability a few different ways when it comes to hitting. My first thought is the swing itself and being able to cover multiple zones with one swing, while still getting a barrel on the ball when fooled. Another way is making an approach-based adjustment either mid-at-bat, or when facing a new pitcher. In this post, I will be primarily focused on finding characteristics of hitters who have an adjustable swing.
One of my intentions for this post is to create some discussion on traits of hitters on both lists. Baseball Savant is a great place to search a hitter and watch video on their profile (Click "Show Random Video"). Additionally, Dustin Lind's Google Drive is a great resource.
I decided to look into the best performing hitters on pitches out of the strike zone (zones 11, 12, 13 and 14 below). The metric I am using is xwOBACON because it properly accounts for performance of balls put in play. I figured that if these players can adjust well to a pitch outside of the strike zone, they are already in a good position to hit inside the strike zone.
Here are the top 20 best and worst performing hitters in "Out-of-Zone xwOBACON" from 2019, minimum 200 at-bats. 326 hitters qualified.
I generally think of the hitters with a more linear approach as having more adjustability than rotational ones. Trout, Arenado, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Turner are the first names that come to mind when it comes to being "linear." Bryce Harper and Cody Bellinger are the first players I think of when it comes to being more "rotational." Having said that, I was expecting the top 20 hitters to have primarily linear characteristics and the bottom 20 to be more rotational.
It's important to note that I do not necessarily think being more "linear" or "rotational" makes a hitter better or worse. There are plenty of both types who have had success and I believe the way hitters move is based more around movement capabilities than intentionally trying to hit a certain way. Mike Trout can create space with a scissor-kick, but Cody Bellinger has had great success keeping his back foot grounded. Finding comparable hitters from a movement standpoint could give less-adjustable hitters a model to work toward. I'm hoping Hawkeye will provide more motion capture data to be able to generate these comparisons beyond just our eyes.
We all know how good Trout is, but I was thinking that maybe one reason he is so good against pitches out of the zone is because teams try to pitch around him (52% of the time) and in order for him to swing more frequently, he has had to expand his zone. The same goes for the other top-tier hitters on the list, like Yelich, Bellinger and Cabrera.
It's also possible that I could be completely wrong in how I am trying to find "adjustable" hitters without sitting down and watching every swing. In that case, you're welcome for the cool and meaningless list.
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