Good Eye or Bad Eye- The Plate Approach of the St. Louis Cardinals Infielders

Good Eye or Bad Eye- A Look at the St. Louis Cardinal Infielders

Today we will take a gander at the Cardinal infielders and how well or poorly they see certain pitches that were thrown to them in 2013.

Yadier Molina

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not?	Swing/Whiff percentage
Fastballs	1,324	Good	80%	39%	Exceptionally aggressive	13% average
Breaking Pitches	623	average	66%	35%	steady	21% low
Off-Speed Stuff	217	Poor	73%	42%	steady	16% low

Analysis: Molina has some issues with swinging at the off-speed stuff but he doesn’t strike out much on that pitch.

Jhonny Peralta

Pitches Seen

Good Eye of Bad Eye

Swing at Strikes

Swing at Balls

Aggressive or Not?

Swing/Whiff percentage

Fastballs

1,160

Very Good

77%

28%

aggressive

19% average

Breaking Pitches

526

good

63%

29%

steady

32% average

Off-Speed Stuff

180

Good

78%

36%

steady

44% high

Analysis: Peralta has a good eye and swings at the pitches that are strikes except when it comes to the off-speed stuff and he has a very high whiff rate.

Matt Adams

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not	Swing/Whiff Percentage
Fastballs	963	average	66%	27%	steady	18% average
Breaking Pitches	400	Exceptionally poor	53%	43%	steady	38% above average
Off-Speed Stuff	217	poor	75%	47%	steady	35% average

Analysis: If it isn’t a fastball, then Adams has problems hitting it. He strikes out too much on the breaking pitches.

KoltenWong

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not	Swing/Whiff Percentage
Fastballs	157	good	79%	34%	Exceptionally aggressive	11% below average to strikeout
Breaking Pitches	66	Very good	59%	20%	Very patient	32% average
Off-Speed Stuff	28	Exceptionally poor	67%	47%	steady	40% above average to strikeout

Analysis: Kolten hits the fastball well but struggles mightily with the off-speed pitches.

Mark Ellis

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not	Swing/Whiff Percentage
Fastballs	1,501	poor	59%	27%	patient	11% below average to strikeout
Breaking Pitches	512	poor	56%	34%%	steady	29% average
Off-Speed Stuff	180	poor	71%	42%	steady	14% low chance to strikeout

Analysis: Ellis has some issues at the plate by swinging at too many pitches but doesn’t strikeout out much.

Daniel Descalso

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not	Swing/Whiff Percentage
Fastballs	802	good	68%	24%	steady	13% average
Breaking Pitches	373	average	68%	44%	Very aggressive	30% average
Off-Speed Stuff	163	Exceptionally poor	65%	44%	steady	23% below average to strikeout

Analysis: Very steady with the swing rate and doesn’t strikeout much.

Matt Carpenter

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not	Swing/Whiff Percentage
Fastballs	2,171	average	57%	19%	Exceptionally patient	9% low
Breaking Pitches	746	average	53%	29%	patient	22% low
Off-Speed Stuff	279	poor	68%	37%	patient	19% low

Analysis: Just a great approach at the plate with low strikeout rates.

Pete Kozma

	Pitches Seen	Good Eye of Bad Eye	Swing at Strikes	Swing at Balls	Aggressive or Not	Swing/Whiff Percentage
Fastballs	1,102	Average	67%	31%	steady	13% average
Breaking Pitches	408	Exceptionally good	65%	23%	patient	30% average
Off-Speed Stuff	175	Exceptionally good	84%	27%	steady	34% average

Analysis: Good Eye and decent hitter just has no power and an average strikeout rate.

Cardinals GM