TBO's Top 5 Prettiest Swings in Baseball

For those of you who actually watch baseball games, as opposed to simply checking daily box scores and transaction wire for your fantasy team, can appreciate that every baseball player has a unique style to his game. This is most apparent in his(or her) baseball swing. Scouts often drool over a high school kid with a sweat stroke. Maybe the most famous of those kids was Ken Griffey Jr. who had the smoothest, most effortless power swing in baseball history. The Cubs recently spent the 3rd overall draft pick on high school prospect Josh Vitters for having a "pretty right-handed swing". One player on my list of top 5 pretty swings was a former number 1 selection out of high school. Although it has been shown over and over that a players swing or physique cannot determine major league success, it is undeniable that some baseball players have an advantage over others based on the force, flexibility, or torque they can produce. It is generally accepted that the best batting average hitters in baseball history have been left handed swings. Lefty bats appear to be more fluid and pleasing to the eye, so it should be no surprise that my top 5 list consists of all lefties.

5) Carlos Gonzalez (CarGo)


When I think of Carlos Gonzalez, I imagine the incredible extension and torque that he is able to generate with his body. As a result the ball generates incredible back spin allowing it to carry further and further over the fence. For a player that isn't incredibly tall or strong, he can hit it with the big boys as his 413 foot homer average this year shows.

4) Bryce Harper


Yeah, I know he's not even in the major leagues right now and may not be for another 3 years. But we have a thing called youtube and Bryce Harper may have the fastest hip rotation of anyone in baseball today. He was the unanimous number pick in last Mondays MLB draft. He is praised for having one of the fastest bat swings in recorded history. From Sports Illustrated, "Still only 16, Harper stands 6'3", weighs 205 pounds, has faster bat speed than Mark McGwire in his prime and runs so fast that he scored on wild pitches six times this season from second base."

3) Adrian Gonzalez


Adrian Gonzalez was a first overall selection of the Marlins out of high school in 2000 and was described as having a perfect swing. I remember the first home run I saw him hit for the Texas Rangers. His effortless swing reminded me of Rafael Palmeiro, except it was smoother and more variable. The Rangers, who already had an All-Star first baseman in Mark Teixeira decided to give Gonzalez to the Padres for Adam Eaton. Since getting the starting position in San Diego, Gonzalez has become one of the most desirable young players in the game. DME showed us the true greatness of Agon if had played in Fenway instead of Petco Park last year.

2) Chase Utley

Utley's swing can be described as the opposite of Carlos Gonzalez. Instead of using a large wind up and extending every limb of his body to generate torque, Utley instead uses a very short, abbreviated swing to generate his force. With almost no follow through, Utley must have incredibly strong hands to produce the force to hit 8 home runs in a single playoffs.

1) Robinson Cano

I made a bold prediction that Cano was going to win the MVP award this season based solely on the beauty of his swing. When I watch Cano hit, I feel like i'm in the 1950's watching the great players of yesteryear. He is able to generate even more back spin on the ball than CarGo, except there is much less movement and uncertainty in his swing. He is able to turn on the inside pitch, while smacking line drives to the opposite field.

Such that we don't discriminate against right handed swings, my list would include: Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria, Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols, and Ryan Zimmerman

Lets not forget the sweetest swing of all

Stupid DME thinks Braun can't run the bases

In the Chase Utley comments section, DME proclaimed that Ryan Braun is a horrible baserunner ranking 9th on his own team last season. He points to some stat called EQBRR on BP, which seems reasonable after checking it over, though i still dont know how it is calculated exactly. The baseball analysts did a preview of Bill James Baseball Abstract for 2010

Before listing the best and worst baserunners by position, James compares Chone "Gone" Figgins (23-for-43 going from first-to-third on a single and 26-for-31 second-to-home on a single) with Prince Fielder (1-for-45 first-to-third on a single) and David Ortiz (2-for-16 second-to-home on a single), Emilio Bonafacio (10-for-10 first-to-home on a double) with Mike Lowell (0-for-10), and Denard Span (moved up a base 31 times on a WP, PB, Balk, SF, or Defensive Indifference) with Geoff Blum (never advanced a base on any of those plays).

	BEST				WORST
C	Kurt Suzuki	+15		C	Yadier Molina	-26
1B	Carlos Pena	+9		1B	Adrian Gonzalez	-29
2B	Chase Utley	+50		2B	Robinson Cano	-23
3B	Chone Figgins	+35		3B	Mike Lowell	-27
SS	Jason Bartlett	+30		SS	Yuniesky Betancourt	-28
LF	Ryan Braun	+35		LF	Juan Rivera	-40
CF	Michael Bourn	+55		CF	Kosuke Fukudome	-11
RF	Ichiro Suzuki	+32		RF	Gabe Kapler	-19

Most people will tell you that we should have Carl Crawford in left field ahead of Ryan Braun, and people will tell you that Yadier Molina actually runs well for a catcher, or at least for a Molina. We don't base this on reputation. Carl Crawford was 8-for-27 going first-to-third on a single. Ryan Braun was 15-for-41, which is better. Crawford was 4-for-9 scoring from first on a double. Braun was 7-for-9. Crawford moved up 24 bases on Wild Pitches, Passed Balls, Balks, Sacrifice Flies and Defensive Indifference. Braun moved up 26 times. Crawford grounded into 7 double plays in 136 DP situations; Braun grounded into 7 in 172 situations. Braun was thrown out 5 times on the bases. Crawford was thrown out 10. Crawford is a very good baserunner—the second-best baserunner among major league left fielders in 2009, including his base stealing—but Braun was better. And Yadi Molina grounded into 27 frigging double plays, which is a record even for a Molina brother.

As James points out, "the difference between the best baserunner in the majors (Michael Bourn) and the worst (Juan Rivera) was 95 bases, or about 24 runs" [editor's note: equal to about 2 1/2 wins].

Quick Chase Utley Rant

Despite the fact that the BBWA got it right with Tim Lincecum, Zack Greinke, Joe Mauer and technically Albert Pujols, they are still a bunch of morons. Somehow, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Troy Tulowitzki, Andre Ethier and Pablo Sandoval all ended up with more MVP votes than Chase Utley. At 7.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), Chase Utley was the second most valuable hitter in the NL (behind Pujols, at 8.4 WAR) and the seventh most valuable player overall. A strong balance between fantastic defense at 2B and quality hitting at the plate makes Chase Utley one of the most valuable assets in baseball (based on his production and salary, Fangraphs ranked Utley as a top ten asset earlier this year). Utley does many things very well. He can hit (28+ HRs in 4 of the last 5 seasons, .390 career wOBA), field (career +15.5 UZR/150 at 2B), and run the bases (23 SB last season, 0 CS). He tied Reggie Jackson's World Series homerun record this year. And, as evidenced below, he can even fly.

But Chase Utley gets no love.

At first glance, Pujols appears to deserve the MVP. His monstrous bat was second to none (+16 Runs Above Replacement (RAR) better than the second best hitter last year, Joe Mauer, the AL MVP) and his defense is solid (it has averaged just under +5 RAR per season since 2002). However, Albert Pujols plays first base. Yes, WAR accomodates this with a -12.4 Positional Adjustment to Pujols' cumulative RAR, but there is something more to be said when the WARs are close and the positions played by two players require significantly different levels of skill.

"But DME," you say, "Pujols has a +8.4 WAR and Utley has a +7.6 WAR. That's a chunky +8 RAR difference." True, in theory, but WAR does not encapsulate every aspect of a player's value (and no, I'm not talking about Grindiness Per Nine Inning (G/9)). WAR does not encapsulate baserunning skills. Because WAR is derivative of wOBA, which already accounts for SB%, the additional "Baserunning RAR" (BRAR) is calculated by (EQBRR-EQSBR). According to Baseball Prospectus, Chase Utley was the second best baserunner in the majors last season (behind Michael Bourne) and his BRAR was +5.32. Albert Pujols was not even a top 500 baserunner and his BRAR was -0.62.

This makes the difference between Utley and Pujols' end of season cumulative RAR's within two runs of each other. Such a difference is pretty marginal. Factor in Pujols' +13 PA's and the fact that Chase Utley's team made it to the World Series (where Utley raked), and I would have to tip my hat in favor of Chase Utley, who plays in a much tougher division, for the NL MVP award. By no means is it a travesty that Pujols got the honor. It is a travesty, however, that Utley did not even finish top 5 in NL MVP voting.

This only goes to show that even when the BBWA gets it right, they still manage to get it wrong.
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Editor's Note: I am aware that BBWA votes are due prior to the playoffs. I am just using his performance as addition rationale as to why I would prefer him over Pujols for the NL MVP. If Utley didn't hit .193/.290/.325 (.217 BABIP) in Sept./Oct., it is very possible that Utley would have had a more valuable 2009 than Pujols.

World Series Milestones approaching

In game 5 of the World Series Chase Utley hit two homeruns. That gives him 5 homeruns so far in this World Series. He is now tied with Reggie Jackson who hit 5 homeruns for the New York Yankees in the 1977 World Series. Utley will have at least one more game to break the record. If the Phillies can win game 6, then he may have another to help his team win the World Series and be the sole record holder of the most homeruns in the World Series which has not been broken for 30 years. He is also the second person with Kansas City's Willie Aikens as the only players who have had multi-homer games in the World Series. I was surprised that there hasn’t been more, and by bigger names.

Utley’s teammate Ryan Howard has been struggling so far in this World Series. He is hitting .158 in 19 at-bats of 5 World Series games so far. He has no homeruns, 2 doubles, three hits, and 12 strikeouts in 19 at-bats. Twelve strikeouts in 19 at-bats is pretty bad and he is also approaching a record for the World Series. Sadly, his record is not of the good type. He is approaching the record for most strikeouts in the World Series. He has tied Willie Wilson of Kansa City in 1980 with 12 strikeouts in the World Series. Howard still has the chance to break the record and be the sole holder of it.