Get Your Thursday Off to a Great Stat: Best pitchers at limiting power hitting

by — August 15, 2019 in Trivia

Expected Slugging Percentage (xSLG) is a highly accurate measure of power hitting. It’s formulated using actual exit velocity and launch angle. In contrast to Slugging Percentage (SLG), xSLG removes defense and park factors from the equation. Hitters and pitchers are able to influence exit velocity and launch angle but have no control over what happens to a batted ball once it is put into play. To calculate xSLG, each batted ball is assigned an expected result (single, double, triple, home run) based on results of comparable batted balls since 2015 and weighted.

Here is the major league leaderboard in xSLG for starting pitchers (350+ plate appearances):

10. Sonny Gray (CIN) – .341

9. Kente Maeda (LAD) – .338

8. Noah Syndergaard (NYM) – .336

7. Gerrit Cole (HOU) – .334

6. Stephen Strasburg (WAS) – .334

5. Jacob deGrom (NYM) – .331

4. Charlie Morton (TBR) – .327

3. Max Scherzer (WAS) – .322

2. Blake Snell (TBR) – .321

1. Luis Castillo (CIN) -.314

Note the gap between Castillo and Snell is the largest gap on the leaderboard. Sonny Gray starts tonight against the Cardinals and Luis Castillo goes tomorrow.

[https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1143552512089370624]

Tags:

Steve Mancuso

Steve Mancuso is a lifelong Reds fan who grew up during the Big Red Machine era. He’s been writing about the Reds for more than ten years. Steve’s fondest memories about the Reds include attending a couple 1975 World Series games, being at Homer Bailey’s second no-hitter and going nuts for Jay Bruce at Clinchmas. Steve was also at all three games of the 2012 NLDS, but it’s too soon to talk about that.

1 Response

  1. Jefferson Green says:
    August 15, 2019 at 2:43 PM

    Beautiful! Two Reds – signed for the long-term – in the top 10. Is 350 PA a large enough sample size to be a reliable predictor of future performance? If not, how many PA’s are needed for these types of ‘x-‘ stats? Thanks for the education, Steve (and Matt).

Subscribe to RC+ via Email

Get an email every time we publish a new post!

Reds Content Plus is a site for passionate fans of the Cincinnati Reds. Our staff of independent writers covers the performance of Reds players and the strategies of the Reds manager and front office. Our content builds on what you’ll find at other Reds fan sites. What separates RC+ is our use of (and explaining) advanced statistical measures. Whether it’s a sacrifice bunt, intentional walk, stolen base, bullpen use, pinch hitting or pulling the starting pitcher, we’ll dig into the numbers. If you want to support us, check out our Support Page.