Factoids from Batted Balls

A couple that are relevant to discussions here:

So, now that you know all that, what do you see? Well, there are two main types of fly ball hitters: those who are just about average or worse in all other categories (Howard is a prime example) and those who have above-average plate discipline (such as Lance Berkman, Grady Sizemore, Quentin and Carlos Pena). And you’ve got a few odd types, such as Ryan Ludwick’s line drive hitting and the ground ball prowess of Ryan Braun and Josh Hamilton.

Roy Halladay was phenomenal. He was a groundball pitcher who gave up eight fewer runs than average on ground balls! Kudos to that Toronto infield. Tim Lincecum struck out an amazing 29 percent of batters who faced him. Combined with a 10 percent walk rate, that means that only 60 percent of the batters who faced him batted a fair ball. No wonder he gave up less than average on every kind of batted ball.

Eighty-five percent of Justin Masterson’s ground balls were fielded for outs last year (the major league average was 74 percent). Don’t expect that to continue in 2009.