Future Redbirds

Jeff Sackmann does some heavy lifting, looking at AAA batters pitch data.

The most famous Redbird was part of the research, let’s look at how he stacked up against league averages.

Pitches seen per PA: Ankiel 3.76, League Average 3.73
% of first pitches swung at: Ank 10.9%, league 12.9%.
% of pitches swung at: Ank 56.7%, league 45.6%.
% of strikes that are swinging strikes: Ank 85.1%, league 73.1%.
% of swings that make contact: Ank 76.3%, league 79.1%.
% of swings that put the ball in play: 34.5%, league 43%.

Very interesting info indeed. It’s nice to see he doesn’t swing at the first pitch that often compared to the league average, but after that you can see how green he really is plate discipline wise. The percentage of his strikes that are swinging strikes were by far the highest of all the AAA players Jeff looked at on his list, apparently Rick is always swinging from his heels. His swing % is is higher then any other as well. Seems like he’s pretty one dimensional at the plate, all or nothing. I’m still optimistic he can grow into being a more disciplined hitter, but these #’s are rather alarming.