FanPost

Is Jason Heyward being pitched around?

There's a lot of flibbity-floo about Heyward's spot in the batting order and not having protection. I generally believe that protection theory is bogus, and this is not meant to show comprehensive evidence that it actually exists. However, it could possibly be evidence of a short term trend with Heyward not only hitting 6th, but having some decidedly light bats behind him.

The following numbers show the percentage of pitches thrown in the strike zone to each regular member of our lineup. For comparison, the current league average is 47.8%.

1. Martin Prado - 47.2%
2. Nate McLouth - 43.1%
3. Chipper Jones - 46.8%
4. Brian McCann - 45.0%
5. Dan Uggla - 47.0%
6. Jason Heyward - 39.1%
7. Alex Gonzalez - 48.7%
8. Freddie Freeman - 33.3%

Hitting 8th, it isn't a surprise that Freeman isn't seeing a ton of strikes. But there's a sharp contrast between Heyward and his surrounding batters right now.

Of major league players with at least 60 PAs, Jason Heyward is currently LAST in percentage of pitches seen in the strike zone. Perhaps just small sample size noise, but it was an interesting discovery for me.

This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Battery Power.