Linear Weights by Hit Speed - Hit F/X

Posted this over at Tom Tango's blog, but here it is again:

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/linear_weights_by_batted_ball_speed/

Hit Speed	Avg of LW	Count of Events
<50	-0.24	372
55-60	-0.207	456
60-65	-0.096	643
65-70	-0.062	783
70-75	-0.08	961
75-80	-0.116	1097
80-85	-0.094	1509
85-90	-0.056	1787
90-95	0.047	2115
95-100	0.208	2086
100-105	0.473	1420
>105	0.535	457
Total	0.03	15044

David Ortiz is struggling

It has been a long time since I have posted, but this caught my eye so I figured I would post it. We all know about Ortiz's struggles so far in 2009 (wOBA of .206 and a K% of almost 30%), but his pitch f/x data paints an even bleaker picture.

Coming into today's game, Ortiz had swung and missed on 36 pitches so far this season. That puts him second in the majors behind Josh Hamilton's 43. Here is the top 5:

Hitter	Misses
Josh Hamilton	43
David Ortiz	36
Adrian Gonzalez	34
Chris Davis	34
Jordan Schafer	32

When digging deeper, we can see fastballs are giving Ortiz problems. He is leading the majors in misses against fastballs with 19.

Hitter	FB Misses	Avg. FB Speed
David Ortiz	19	90.4
Jordan Schafer	18	91.9
Bengie Molina	18	93.6
Carl Crawford	17	89.7
Chris Davis	16	93.8
Adrian Gonzalez	15	91.1
Nelson Cruz	15	93.3
Emilio Bonifacio	14	91.0
Josh Hamilton	14	92.2
Pablo Sandoval	14	92.4

Also, the average fastball speed on his misses is only 90.4 mph. This would rank as 130th out of 152 hitters with at least 5 swings and misses.

To recap, not only is Ortiz swinging and missing often but he is also missing on fastballs with a low average velocity. Hopefully he can pick it up, or else the Sox will be looking to add a bat in the coming months.