After finishing dead last in BABIP in 2012 (.215), Jose Bautista came back and posted another poor rate, placing him 11th last amongst qualified batters at .259 in 2013.
For some most major league players this would be a huge concern. But it’s business as usual for Jose. The main culprit for his low BABIP would have to be…
Flyballs
Bautista hit .053 on flyballs last season in play. Yes, .053! This was the second worst rate in the entire MLB.
Now the league average of .143 isn’t anything to write home about. But .053 is a grand total of 7 hits in 128 AB. This was mostly due to giving away 28 outs to infield flyballs (IFFB).
On the plus side, Jose hit 23 HR on flyballs, which produced a .353 wOBA on flyballs, placing him right around league average in the 53rd percentile.
However, Jose makes his $$$ with…
Linedrives
Bautista hit an even .800 on linedrives, with a 7.7% HR/LD rate & a 1.292 slugging percentage. This created a wOBA of .876 and an MLB best Well-Hit-Average (WHAV) of .758.
The gap between his linedrive-to-flyball production is the largest in the game.
So while the stat nerd in me hates to see so many IFFB and such a low BABIP, at the end of the day Bautista finds a way to get it done despite a piss poor BABIP.
Stats via ESPN TruMedia, Image via Prodigy @breakaway.net message boards
