Texas shortstop Corey Seager is considered the biggest beneficiary of the infield defensive shift restrictions that will take effect next year. Although he is not the only left-handed hitter with a cigar, his characteristics gave rise to such expectations.
Seager is the player with the most ground balls and the most frequent shifts among left-handed hitters. In the 2022 season, with the infield shift unfolded, he made 481 contacts and hit 107 ground balls, the most in the league. Charlie Blackmon (Colorado) is second, with 86, more than 20 points away from Ciger.
MLB.com analyzed that Seager missed about 20 hits due to shifting. We compared the expected number of hits and the actual number of hits that came out by synthesizing the shift situation and the nature of the batted ball. There were 262 non-play situations such as strikeouts, four walks, home runs, non-shift situations, and balls with a distance of less than 220 feet. MLB.com concluded that Seager’s ‘stolen hits’ thus selected were 20.
Seager had a batting average of .245, an on-base percentage of 0.317, and a slugging percentage of 0.455 this year. If Seager had added 20 ‘single hits’, and if there were additional walks and strikeouts due to this (MLB.com did not disclose the specific calculation method), how would the season’s performance change? MLB.com expected his performance to improve with a batting average of 0.278, an on-base percentage of 0.347, and a slugging percentage of 0.489.
OPS improves from 0.772 to 0.836. This means that the number that was ranked 7th among shortstops could have risen to 1st.
Carlos Correa, who had the highest OPS among shortstops who filled the required at bats this year, recorded 0.834. Four people exceeded 0.800: Xander Bogatz 0.833, Trey Turner 0.809, and Bo Bichet 0.802. Francisco Lindor followed with a 0.788 and Dansby Swanson with a 0.776. next is cigar However, without the shift, Seager’s OPS could beat all six players in front. 토토사이트
“It’s a mind fight after all,” MLB.com said. “A hitter like Seager can increase his singles if he wants to, but he might not want to go that way. It’ll be interesting to see who goes which way. will,” he concluded.