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Last season, ESPN stat guru Mark Simon popularized a statistic called hard hit rate, which is the % of a player's at bats that end in a hard hit ball. Hard hit balls are classified by video trackers as batted balls with exit velocities of 90+ mph with strong trajectory and contact on the sweet spot of the barrel. This is a different stat than the new FanGraphs hard%, which is a percentage of balls in play rather than a percentage of at bats. It's also classified by different video trackers.
We want to target hitters with a high hard hit% and pitchers with a low hard hit% because the harder a ball is hit, the more likely strong offensive production occurs. The batting average on hard hit balls is over .700. Approximately 100% of home runs, 80% of triples and 70% of doubles are hard hit, while only 30% of singles are hard hit. For hitters, generating hard contact is a way to make run scoring more likely.
These hitters have ended the highest percentage of their at bats with a hard hit ball in 2015 (min. 200 ABs):
1. Giancarlo Stanton, 24.4%
2. Bryce Harper, 23.3%
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 23.8%
4. Brian Dozier, 23.6%
5. Anthony Rizzo, 23.6%
6. Freddie Freeman, 23.2%
7. Andrew McCutchen, 23%
8. Prince Fielder, 22.1%
9. Miguel Cabrera, 21.9%
10. Mike Trout, 21.9%
11. Nolan Arenado, 21.7%
12. Jason Kipnis, 21.1%
13. Carlos Santana, 20.9%
14. Lucas Duda, 20.6%
15. Brandon Moss, 20.6%
16. Albert Pujols, 20.6%
17. Ryan Howard, 20.4%
18. Joc Pederson, 20.4%
19. Brandon Belt, 20.2%
20. Adrian Gonzalez, 20.2%
21. Jose Bautista, 20.1%
22. Todd Frazier, 20.1%
23. JD Martinez, 20.1%
24. Luis Valbuena, 20.1%
25. Lorenzo Cain, 20%
26. Adrian Beltre, 19.9%
27. George Springer, 19.6%
28. Jay Bruce, 19.5%
29. Yoenis Cespedes, 19.4%
30. Josh Reddick, 19.1%
31. Josh Donaldson, 19%
32. Derek Norris, 19%
33. Troy Tulowitzki, 18.9%
34. Brandon Crawford, 18.8%
35. Carlos Beltran, 18.5%
36. Kyle Seager, 18%
37. Kendrys Morales, 17.9%
38. Stephen Vogt, 17.9%
39. Brian McCann, 17.7%
40. Buster Posey, 17.7%