White Sox making best swing decisions in MLB so far

[southsider2k5]

1 hour ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It's in innate part of the player and by far the most challenging thing to change. Sox have been working with Robert for 5 years on this, and his solution appears to be just taking more pitchers by default, for example:

Robert is actually swinging at fewer pitches in the zone vs his career. Is he swinging at fewer out of the zone too? Yup, so he's just squating on more pitches. Which I'd argue is bad because he's also making contact on fewer pitches in the zone which is more important than making contact with a few more pitches out of the zone where the contact is weaker. This overall approach, so far, has hurt Robert significantly. He's getting killed by the fastball up and in because he's late because he's worried about being patient. Robert changing his pitch selection has effectively slowed his reaction time imo.

This is the kind of dive I was hoping to see.  They aren't swinging is too simple of a statement to matter.  With a lot of new players, the first question should be WHO  is swinging less, quickly followed by is this affecting guys who should be swinging more and/or harder.  If it because the guys who can't hit we brought in aren't swinging it isn't very meaningful. If it is because yhe guys who needed to reduce their zones, reduced their zones, it could be meaningful.   If it is causing guys who should be aggressive to be less aggressive and take less aggressive swings, it could be meaningful in a bad way.

[Chick Mercedes]

1 hour ago, Boopa1219 said:

It’s a very good flex. This is hopefully something that takes hold throughout the org and becomes a trend. Imagine this stat with good players. 

It’s more a flex on their analytics dept and acquisitions than it is coaching. Getz is only adding certain types of players 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Well if this doesn't fit in nicely to the thread:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/by-meidroth-i-care-not-a-man-can-swing-but-once/

I'm beginning to worry the Sox believe this is a market gap... it's not.

[chitownsportsfan]

1 hour ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Well if this doesn't fit in nicely to the thread:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/by-meidroth-i-care-not-a-man-can-swing-but-once/

I'm beginning to worry the Sox believe this is a market gap... it's not.

A lot of purple prose to say very little by that author. The ole non Dan Z fan graphs special.

[Quin]

On 4/9/2025 at 6:11 PM, Quin said:

Considering their output, this ain't a good flex.

I stand by my statement 9 days later.

[kitekrazy]

On 4/9/2025 at 2:44 PM, Lip Man 1 said:

They are taking great swings...and have scored 32 runs in 10 games.

Sometimes stats can be a little misleading.

That's how agents make money.

[Lyle Moooton]

I think this is a pretty tremendous sign. Of course the offense is still s%*# because the talent simply isn’t there to impact the ball, but it’s a good sign nonetheless. 

[Quin]

By the way, they're now ranked 15th in O-Swing% and 9th in Z-Swing%, so no longer top dogs.

[chitownsportsfan]

14 minutes ago, Quin said:

By the way, they're now ranked 15th in O-Swing% and 9th in Z-Swing%, so no longer top dogs.

31 minutes ago, Lyle Moooton said:

I think this is a pretty tremendous sign. Of course the offense is still s%*# because the talent simply isn’t there to impact the ball, but it’s a good sign nonetheless. 

It was just some fluke and really means jack squat. As @Look at Ray Ray Run said if the Sox think this is some inefficiency they are wrong, certainly not at a team wide application. A certain hitter or two I could buy, but you can't have an entire lineup of guys watching strikes go by.

[Quin]

15 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

It was just some fluke and really means jack squat. As @Look at Ray Ray Run said if the Sox think this is some inefficiency they are wrong, certainly not at a team wide application. A certain hitter or two I could buy, but you can't have an entire lineup of guys watching strikes go by.

Yeah, the notion that the Sox have smarter batters than the Yankees or Cubs gets nuked to high heaven when you consider everything.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

On 4/10/2025 at 4:36 AM, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It's in innate part of the player and by far the most challenging thing to change. Sox have been working with Robert for 5 years on this, and his solution appears to be just taking more pitchers by default, for example:

Robert is actually swinging at fewer pitches in the zone vs his career. Is he swinging at fewer out of the zone too? Yup, so he's just squating on more pitches. Which I'd argue is bad because he's also making contact on fewer pitches in the zone which is more important than making contact with a few more pitches out of the zone where the contact is weaker. This overall approach, so far, has hurt Robert significantly. He's getting killed by the fastball up and in because he's late because he's worried about being patient. Robert changing his pitch selection has effectively slowed his reaction time imo.

This is the same post I made a week ago basically by saying being patient and looking longer means he's swinging too late to catch up to anything

[Chick Mercedes]

On 4/18/2025 at 9:40 AM, Quin said:

By the way, they're now ranked 15th in O-Swing% and 9th in Z-Swing%, so no longer top dogs.

This thread’s creation reminds me of scenarios in college late on a Friday night off campus party. Not being a smooth operator, almost everyone is gone, and my target(s) all told me in so many words..no. But I was still bound and determined to hit on what was left. My roommate usually, thankfully pulled me out of there if he was around. Rinse and repeated. Some people on Soxtalk remind me of me.