Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With Statcast becoming more and more advanced, we now have publicly available information on all kinds of bat-tracking metrics — most notably, bat speed.
Bat speed has always, anecdotally, been associated with power and hitting the ball hard. While it’s true swinging the bat harder can lead to harder contact, it doesn’t seem overly important to the Dodgers.
Here are the Top 10 bat speeds on the Dodgers:
| Player | Bat Speed (MPH) |
| Shohei Ohtani | 76.3 (7th in MLB) |
| James Outman | 73.9 |
| Michael Conforto | 73.4 |
| Dalton Rushing | 73.2 |
| Teoscar Hernandez | 72.9 |
| Andy Pages | 72.9 |
| Hunter Feduccia | 71.6 |
| Max Muncy | 71.5 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 70.9 |
| Chris Taylor | 70.0 |
The MLB average is 71.7 MPH, so the Dodgers only have five players whose bat speed is considered above-average. Outman and Rushing have 44 and 36 swings, respectively, so it’s hard to know if those speeds will keep up. Feduccia has four swings tracked, so it’s almost easy just to throw that one out.
The Dodgers’ two-best hitters not named Ohtani this year — Freddie Freeman and Will Smith — have 69.6 and 69.5 MPH average bat speeds. It certainly hasn’t hurt their production, as they boast wRC+ numbers of 188 and 163 — 2nd and 9th-best in MLB.
So, why does the Dodgers’ 7th-worst bat speed still result in them averaging 5.7 runs per game and leading MLB in runs scored? Contrary to popular belief, it can’t all be because of Ohtani. Despite not having the hardest swings, the Dodgers rank highly in a number of different categories outside of bat speed. They’re tied with the Rockies (!) with the 2nd-best attack angle at 12 degrees. The ideal attack angle is between 5-20 degrees, while the MLB average is 10 degrees. The higher the attack angle, the more fly balls, the lower, more grounders. The Dodgers’ batted ball data back up that. They rank 3rd in line drive rate, 7th in fly ball rate and have the lowest ground ball rate (38%) in the majors. Furthermore, they have the 6th-highest launch angle at 16 degrees. They also hit the ball farther — on average — than any team in baseball. They average 188 feet on batted balls, ahead of the Yankees at 181 and the Cubs at 180. A team is, naturally, going to hit the ball farther if they’re hitting more balls in the air rather than on the ground.
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We’ve heard a lot about Mookie Betts‘ and his struggles with bat speed this season. He’s at 68.5 MPH presently, sandwiched between Hyeseong Kim (68.9) and Miguel Rojas (67.3). That’s … not what you’d expected from one of the best players over the last decade. He had health concerns in Spring Training that cost him time and weight, and now he’s dealing with a, technically, fractured toe. Unsurprisingly, he’s posting the worst offensive numbers of his career. All of the following statistics would qualify as the worst marks of his career.
- .252/.333/.397
- .145 ISO
- 109 wRC+
- .249 BABIP
- 36.3 HardHit%
He could just be slumping, he could still be getting over everything he dealt with prior to the season. The bottom line is, he’s not the same hitter he was even last year, when concerns about a decline were starting to crop up — mostly defensively and speed-wise, but still.
In spite of what the numbers say, Betts is still squaring the ball up when he makes contact. He’s in the 100th percentile with a 42.5% Squared-Up% and has more walks (26) than strikeouts (23). It might be a bit premature to declare we’ll never see 2016-24 Mookie Betts ever again, but the numbers don’t look great. He’ll continue to hit in the No. 2 spot in the lineup and he’ll have to make adjustments going forward to be the best hitter he can be.
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Not everyone needs to be Oneil Cruz when it comes to bat speed to be successful. He’s the leader — by a lot — in terms of bat speed, average and max exit velocity and among the best in HardHit% and Barrel%. His production is good — .229/.353/.474, 127 wRC+ — but not what you’d expect when combined with the other metrics.
Whatever the Dodgers are doing, they’re doing it right. Having Ohtani doesn’t hurt. Having Freeman and Smith playing at MVP levels doesn’t hurt. But outside of them, a lot of the other guys have been a bit underwhelming. Pages has been solid and Muncy seems to be turning it around. Even with that and other guys struggling, the Dodgers have the best offense in baseball. They’re doing it while not producing eye-popping bat swing speeds. It comes down to quality of contact, type of contact and plate discipline — all of which the Dodgers do well.
