I am currently putting together a database of baseball stats in order to better understand the game fill my brain with absurd baseball trivia. And while I get things going, I’ve been occasionally asking random questions to get myself more comfortable navigating the tons of data available these days. I decided to post the answers to some of these questions and compile them in what I have dubbed, Random Bits of Useless Knowledge.
Here’s another thought that could be interesting, if I expand on it and present it in a more useful fashion. The rate at which the Twins “power” guys (I use that term loosely) hit Fly Balls, Ground Balls, Line Drives and Pop Ups. These are career numbers.
(The first column is the % of batted balls of each type, the second column in the % of total bases (from balls put in play – not walks) the player advanced with each type of hit)
| Joe Crede | % of BB | % of TB |
| F | 34.71% | 46.91% |
| G | 34.36% | 17.13% |
| L | 15.79% | 35.52% |
| P | 15.14% | 0.45% |
| Michael Cuddyer | ||
| F | 27.57% | 44.34% |
| G | 46.49% | 23.04% |
| L | 17.44% | 32.52% |
| P | 8.50% | 0.10% |
| Jason Kubel | ||
| F | 32.81% | 47.97% |
| G | 43.71% | 17.79% |
| L | 19.18% | 33.85% |
| P | 4.30% | 0.39% |
| Joe Mauer | ||
| F | 25.77% | 35.11% |
| G | 52.13% | 27.11% |
| L | 19.68% | 37.46% |
| P | 2.43% | 0.32% |
| Justin Morneau | ||
| F | 32.72% | 50.37% |
| G | 41.64% | 17.07% |
| L | 17.24% | 31.81% |
| P | 8.40% | 0.75% |
| Delmon Young | ||
| F | 26.29% | 33.39% |
| G | 50.59% | 27.62% |
| L | 18.68% | 38.99% |
| P | 4.44% | 0.00% |
Joe Crede pops up a lot. He also got a large % of his total bases on fly balls, so, you know.
Micheal Cuddyer does pretty well when he gets the ball in the air. So does Jason Kubel. Its too bad you can’t just say “hey, stop hitting the ball on the ground.”
Joe Mauer is really a ground ball guy. And he pops out 2.43% of the time. That’s close to never.
Justin Morneau is our fly ball king. No surprise there.
Delmon Young would probably benefit from getting the ball elevated more than Cuddyer and Kubel.
