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A sure joke has been making the rounds for some time now. It’s actually easy. It goes, “Tommy Edmanenergy hitter? (Pause for laughter).” I made this joke myself throughout the Tokyo Collection. If and when the joke is definitely humorous, it’s as a result of Edman doesn’t have the normal look or profile of an influence hitter. That type of incongruity makes an awesome premise each for jokes and for a startlingly excessive proportion of youngsters’s films. A switch-hitting, 5-foot-9 utility participant who needs to be an influence hitter is roughly as quirky as a rat who needs to be a gourmand chef, a robotic who needs to search out love, or a snail who needs to be a race automotive driver.
Edman by no means reached double-digit residence runs till he received to the majors, and he has nonetheless by no means hit greater than 13 in a season. Nonetheless, I feel it’s time we modified our inflection. Tommy Edman is an influence hitter, or on the very least, he’s half an influence hitter. Which may come as a shock, even to these of us who’ve been rooting for him (and considering of him as Cousin Tommy) ever since his debut in 2019.
All three of these residence runs are from this yr, and all three have been hit tougher than 108 mph. Edman’s eight homers this season are tied for sixth in baseball. He additionally ranks twenty seventh amongst certified gamers in slugging proportion (.514) and sixteenth in remoted slugging proportion (.271). Nonetheless, it goes with out saying {that a} sizzling begin like this received’t final ceaselessly. Edman is hitting the ball arduous, however his bat pace remains to be effectively beneath common. He’s succeeding by pulling tons of balls within the air, and whereas I might like to see him maintain onto these positive aspects like high-contact guys Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner earlier than him, we’ll have to attend and see the place issues settle. For that motive, I don’t essentially need to concentrate on this energy surge. I need to suppose greater.
Let’s begin with Edman’s bat pace. As I discussed, he’s presently netting out within the twentieth percentile, however the splits are what first caught my eye. As a lefty, Edman’s 68.4 mph bat pace would put him within the tenth percentile, subsequent to Jose Altuve. However as a righty, his 73.7 mph mark would put him within the 78th percentile, subsequent to Matt Olson. In different phrases, greater than two-thirds of the league fall someplace between Edman’s righty and left bat speeds! The graph beneath comes from Baseball Savant.
It’s not simply that Edman tends to swing tougher as a righty. The distribution is narrower, too. As a lefty, he makes a bit extra contact and is extra prone to take weaker swings. As a righty, he’s nearly by no means taking weak cuts. On the graph, his weakest swing as a righty is stronger than his common swing as a lefty! It’s not simply the swings, both. It’s the outcomes. These are Edman’s profession numbers.
Tommy Edman Profession Splits
Stat
As RHB
As LHB
Exit Velocity
90.2
87.3
Onerous-Hit Fee
44.8
33.9
Slugging
.495
.381
Remoted Slugging
.219
.123
It’s commonplace for switch-hitters to have extra energy from one aspect or the opposite, however that’s an unbelievable hole. I used to be interested by the way it stacked up traditionally, so I ran just a few Stathead searches, on the lookout for each participant who has batted at the least 500 occasions from each side of the plate. (As a word, the numbers are barely completely different than those above as a result of Edman has batted right-on-right 66 occasions over the course of his profession, and you may’t search Stathead only for all right-handed PAs. The stats beneath examine stats when the batter has the platoon benefit, throwing out these 66 PAs in Edman’s case.) Listed below are the largest gaps of all time when it comes to remoted slugging proportion.
Greatest ISO Platoon Splits Ever
SOURCE: Stathead
* Platoon cut up information is incomplete.
There’s Edman in fourth place with a distinction of 106 factors of ISO. Not solely that, however amongst gamers who’re higher from the correct aspect, he’s received the largest hole ever recorded. No switch-hitter in baseball historical past has ever slugged so arduous from the correct aspect whereas slugging so gently from the left aspect. Nonetheless, that’s not even essentially the most attention-grabbing element about this chart.
Edman’s ISO from the left aspect is .123. That works out to a 71 ISO+, and whereas that’s undoubtedly dangerous, it’s nowhere close to the bottom quantity on the desk. His .228 ISO as a righty works out to 137 ISO+. On each the great and dangerous sides of the desk, Edman’s mark is the fourth highest. My level is that Edman’s look on this desk is due extra to his energy as a righty than to his weak spot as a lefty. If that didn’t make my level, perhaps this may. As soon as once more courtesy of Statheadlisted here are essentially the most highly effective switch-hitters of all time when batting right-handed towards left-handed pitching (min. 500 PA).
Most Highly effective Righty Change-Hitters, Ever
SOURCE: Stathead
* Platoon cut up information is incomplete.
There’s Edman tied for second place with Ketel Marte, proper behind Mickey Mantle. Yeah, that Mickey Mantle. I’ll now pause for a second so as to reassemble your exploded head. He ranks fifth in slugging and fifteenth in OPS. Though he has simply 67 whole residence runs, Edman is, in some way, one of the highly effective switch-hitters of all time with regards to going through left-handed pitching. We don’t have to restrict ourselves to switch-hitters both. Since his debut in 2019, Edman’s .228 ISO towards lefties ranks forty second in baseball, proper between Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mike Trout. Yeah, that Ronald Acuña Jr. and that Mike Trout. He ranks thirty fifth when it comes to slugging proportion towards southpaws, proper between Fernando tate Jr. and Willson Contreras.
This entire article is a celebration a enjoyable reality, and I get that in a manner, it’s a little bit of a bummer. Edman has this unimaginable talent that we must always completely have fun, however as a result of it solely kicks in a couple of third of the time, hitting effectively from the left aspect is rather more priceless than hitting effectively from the correct aspect. Edman has a 100 profession wRC+, with 686 profession PAs towards lefties and a couple of,003 towards righties. If these numbers have been reversed, he’d have a 115 profession wRC+ and, in all probability, just a few All-Star appearances below his belt. Nonetheless, what a enjoyable reality! From the correct aspect, Edman actually is without doubt one of the sport’s authentic energy hitters, and it’s allowed him to carve out an awesome profession for himself. He’s put up a five-win season, and his 17.2 WAR rank fortieth amongst place gamers since 2019. The truth that he doesn’t look the half makes it all of the extra enjoyable.
