Eric Hartline-Imagn Photographs
Each time I watch Oneil Cruz hit, I find yourself excited about pull charge. It looks like he’s all the time utilizing his lengthy arms to yank a ball into proper subject despite the fact that the pitch got here in all the way in which on the surface nook. I’m not fairly proper, although. In keeping with our leaderboards, Cruz ranks thirty fifth amongst all certified gamers in pull charge. In keeping with Statcast, he’s at fifty fifth, not even within the prime third. Possibly it’s simply that seeing somebody do one thing as bonkers as this could warp your perspective:
However there’s multiple approach to consider pull charge. Typically you get jammed. Typically you must hit the ball the place it’s pitched. Typically the state of affairs calls for that you simply shorten up and promote out for contact. These three examples would possibly inform us a bit much less in regards to the intent behind your swing, since you didn’t get to execute your plan. We now have methods to throw them out. Immediately, we’ll look into gamers whose total pull charge is notably totally different from their pull charge after they sq. up the ball. As a refresher, Statcast plugs the respective speeds of the ball and the bat right into a method to find out the utmost potential exit velocity, and if the precise EV is at the least 80% of that quantity, it’s thought-about squared up.
I pulled numbers from 2023 by means of 2025 for every participant who has squared up at the least 250 balls throughout that stretch. As you’d anticipate, the numbers are principally fairly related. Of the 219 gamers within the pattern, 165 of them have a distinction between their total pull charge and their squared-up pull charge that’s beneath three share factors. No participant has a pull charge when squaring the ball up that’s greater than 6.5 share factors off their total pull charge, however there are a couple of fascinating names right here.
Largest Pull Charge Differentials (2023-2025)
SOURCE: Baseball Savant
There’s Cruz on the very prime, so possibly I wasn’t completely off base. When he squares the ball up, his pull charge is 6.5 share factors larger than his regular pull charge. It is smart, as a number of of the gamers on the record are energy hitters with large swings and low squared-up charges. The identical lengthy levers that enable Cruz to drag the ball even when it’s within the right-handed batter’s field additionally make it exhausting for him to catch as much as something on the within a part of the plate. Because of this, he catches the ball deeper and sends it the opposite approach. Whether or not you’re Eugenio Suárez, Joc Pederson, or Salvador Perez, large swings are typically sluggish swings, which end in deeper contact factors that may depress pull charges.
Anthony Volpe is second on the record. Solely Cruz has an even bigger hole between his squared-up pull charge and his total pull charge, however Volpe’s hole is much more notable as a result of he’s the one participant within the prime 10 who pulls the ball much less when he squares it up. In our pattern, there are 16 gamers with a pull charge that’s at the least three share factors decrease than their total charge, whereas there are 42 gamers with a niche that large going the opposite approach. What’s fascinating is that Volpe doesn’t run significantly excessive contact or squared-up charges. His total pull charge is low, however nowhere close to the underside of the league. These information appear to be disguising simply how a lot his swing is designed to ship the ball the opposite approach. Possibly it’s all that point he spent watching Derek jeter as a toddler, however it looks like he has the method of Luis ARCEERZsimply with out the superb contact potential.
The identify I discover most fascinating is Keibert Ruiz. He stands out practically as a lot as Volpe. Ruiz is a switch-hitter and a basic contact man. Because the deadline deal in 2021 that made him the Nationals’ on a regular basis catcher, he has routinely posted among the lowest exit velocities and the very best contact and squared-up charges within the recreation. That mixture typically comes with a number of balls hit to the alternative subject. Solely a handful of gamers make as a lot contact as Ruiz whereas pulling the ball so typically. He’s the lonely purple dot beneath.
The gamers who each pull the ball and make numerous contact are likely to fall into a pair particular teams. I took pull charge and make contact with charge for all certified hitters courting again to 2020, transformed every quantity right into a percentile rank, then added them collectively. Listed here are the hitters on the very prime.
Highest Pull and Contact Charge Percentiles
Aside from Ruiz, all of the gamers on the prime of the record are lift-and-pull gods with swings designed to interrupt xwOBA. José Ramírez, Alex Bregman, Isaac Paredes, and Jose Altuve don’t hit the ball all that arduous, however as a result of they pull every little thing within the air, they entry far more energy than you’d anticipate. Ruiz doesn’t fall into that group in any respect. He simply rolls over tons of balls. Since 2023, 29.5% of the balls Ruiz has put into play have gone to the pull facet and been hit underneath 95 mph. That’s the 14th-highest mark in our pattern.
For those who begin watching tape of Ruiz’s swing, the phrase “straightforward” will rapidly pop into your head. His swing seems downright languorous. We discuss loads about the place a participant’s bat “meets” the ball, and that’s an odd phrase to make use of when describing a high-speed collision. Ruiz is without doubt one of the few gamers for whom it’s apt. His bat seems prefer it’s shifting slowly sufficient that it has time to introduce itself to the ball and ask the place it’s from. Ruiz crushes this ball, practically over the fence, however the swing is unbelievably straightforward.
He begins his swing early and makes use of spectacular bat management to take it by means of the zone extraordinarily slowly. It’s not a normal method and it hasn’t yielded nice outcomes. This season, Ruiz is working the very best groundball-to-fly-ball charge of his profession. He at present has a 98 wRC+, and it’s that prime at the least partly as a result of his BABIP is 68 factors larger than his profession mark. If he retains it up, it will likely be the very best full season of his profession on the plate. Simply two of his 41 hard-hit balls have certified as barrels. If there’s any participant who may benefit from an method change, it’s Ruiz.
He’s already wonderful at squaring up the ball. Possibly he ought to observe the lead of gamers like Steven Kwan and Arraez, letting the ball get deep and taking pictures line drives to the alternative subject. Possibly he ought to observe the lead of Bregman and Paredes and deliberately assault the ball out in entrance to be able to carry it within the air. It’s at the least potential that his contact expertise will translate to both of these two approaches. Ruiz possesses a uncommon reward for contact, made all of the extra spectacular as a result of that reward is commonly reserved for gamers who give themselves a greater likelihood at making contact by letting the ball journey and sending it the opposite approach. It is perhaps time to see how else he can take advantage of these expertise.
