Brandon Belt Midyear HeatMap

[gp956]

Has Brandon closed that middle of the zone hole?

 

[SFGRTB]

Has Brandon closed that middle of the zone hole?

It seems he is covering the inside better, at the expense of a little on the outside. I like the improvement though.

 

[gp956]

It seems he is covering the inside better, at the expense of a little on the outside. I like the improvement though.

Looks like he's flipped that center hotzone from below the thighs to above them, while expanding it a little bit.

 

[tzill]

Looks like he's flipped that center hotzone from below the thighs to above them, while expanding it a little bit.

Yup. And he's covered a lot of that high and in hole.

 

[gp956]

more stuff on Belt:

% of pitches thrown to Belt that end up in the zone: 38% league average is 43%
% of pitches in the zone that Belt swings at: 82% league average is 65%
% of pitches in the zone that Belt swings at and contacts: 83% league average is 87%
% of pitches outside the zone that Belt swings at: 29% league average 31%
% of pitches outside the zone that Belt swings at and contacts: 53% league average 68%

The bolded is where Belt's next big improvement is going to come. If you look at the hotzones of elite hitters like Joey Votto, their hotzones are much bigger than Belt's, yet they swing at far fewer strikes. So it's not that these guys only swing at pitches in their "zone," there must be a certain amount of fore knowledge about where a pitcher is going to work them and then making in-AB adjustments in order to cover those locations.

Looking at those elite hitters history, they improve their wOBA weighted plate coverage while cutting down on their in zone swing percentage over time. We should expect a similar learning curve with Belt, as well, but a 82% in-zone swing rate is a pretty high starting point. Joey Votto, in comparison, was at 75% in his first extended trip around the league - he's at 64% now.