You have to hit it where it’s pitched

by | Jan 19, 2020 | Uncategorized

Or do you?  At all levels of baseball and softball you can hear this statement being repeated.  But I wanted to know if it’s true or not.  I’m not debating whether or not it’s a good thought process.  Many successful players have said they try to use the whole field.  Other successful players have shifted their mindset to pull the ball more often and others still have focused on going the other way.  What I’m interested in is what actually happens.

To get an idea as to whether or not you have to hit the ball where it’s pitched, I decided to get a spray chart for every ball in play over 95 mph in each of the 9 zones of the strike zone.  The reason I only took balls hit over 95 is to limit the number of results I was getting to help make the data more useable and easier to digest.   The other reason is that we are focusing on where players hit the ball when they are successful.  Of course hitting the ball 95 mph doesn’t mean that someone got a hit or was successful but it certainly does eliminate weaker hits that cloud the data.

Take a look at the images below.  Again, the spray chart in each zone is a representation of the batter balls 95 mph or greater on pitches in that zone.

(Click on either of the charts above to enlarge them.)

As you can see, the spray charts indicate that you don’t have to hit it where it’s pitched.  If you did, you’d see an overwhelming majority of the hits on the inner third going pull side, the middle third going up the middle and the outer third going to the opposite field.  While this information is nothing groundbreaking, it was interesting to see where players hit the ball and the trends that showed up.

Here are a couple of takeaways:

  1. Most home runs are hit to the pull side with the pitch being located on the inner third or middle third of the plate.
  2. The outer third sees more home runs spread all over, with the exception of the low and away pitch where it’s more difficult to pull for a home run.
  3. It’s tough to go to the opposite field on a pitch on the inner third.
  4. The outside pitch has a much more balanced spray chart when compared to the inside pitch.
  5. Pitchers should avoid the middle square.

Again, this information certainly isn’t groundbreaking but it’s a good visual.  And without doing an exercise like this, we are just guessing when we tell players things.  Just spouting off cues that have been past down for generations can be dangerous.