Who Were the Luckiest and Unluckiest MLB Hitters in April?
Hitters With a Suppressed BABIP
On the other side of the coin, these hitters have been making some solid contact without getting the same kind of results.
The only one out of this group of 16 with a hard-hit rate that was league average is Neil Walker -- everyone else hit the ball hard more frequently than your run-of-the-mill big leaguer, but nobody had a BABIP higher than .250.
| Player | BABIP | LD% | GB% | FB% | Hard% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domingo Santana | .191 | 23.1% | 46.2% | 30.8% | 34.6% |
| Austin Hedges | .200 | 17.9% | 33.9% | 48.2% | 35.1% |
| Maikel Franco | .203 | 26.9% | 44.9% | 28.2% | 35.9% |
| Rougned Odor | .208 | 10.5% | 36.8% | 52.6% | 36.8% |
| Joey Votto | .211 | 19.0% | 40.5% | 40.5% | 32.9% |
| Neil Walker | .211 | 19.4% | 40.3% | 40.3% | 31.5% |
| Ian Kinsler | .221 | 21.1% | 25.4% | 53.5% | 38.0% |
| Scott Schebler | .222 | 11.7% | 38.3% | 50.0% | 38.7% |
| Manny Machado | .234 | 17.6% | 33.8% | 48.5% | 51.5% |
| Evan Longoria | .243 | 25.7% | 41.9% | 32.4% | 33.8% |
| Joe Mauer | .243 | 21.6% | 36.5% | 41.9% | 36.5% |
| Joey Gallo | .244 | 14.6% | 27.1% | 58.3% | 52.1% |
| Hunter Renfroe | .246 | 21.6% | 37.8% | 40.5% | 36.5% |
| Adam Duvall | .250 | 20.9% | 31.3% | 47.8% | 38.8% |
| Yoenis Cespedes | .250 | 12.0% | 28.0% | 60.0% | 48.0% |
| Victor Martinez | .250 | 20.5% | 43.8% | 35.6% | 42.5% |
Is there a hitter that ran into bad luck more often during April than Manny Machado? That's hard to say. Despite a hard-hit rate north of 50.0%, he produced one of the lowest BABIPs in baseball among qualified hitters.
It was really only a matter of time before he started getting hot, though. Since last Friday (April 28th), the young third baseman is hitting .313/.476/.813 with a 57.1% hard-hit rate in 21 plate appearances. So, we can assume he's not letting a little bad luck change his approach at the plate.
Domingo Santana and Maikel Franco both have slightly elevated ground-ball rates, but the frequency in which they've been hitting line drives pushes them over the edge when it comes to being a bit unlucky.
Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo are both making a ton of hard contact while getting the ball in the air rather often, but the results haven't exactly translated just yet. But when they do, the Texas Rangers will probably be very happy.
Just as we can look at the players with inflated BABIPs and temper expectations moving forward, we can look at this group and feel optimistic about what's ahead for them. The goal is to consistently hit the ball hard, and if they continue to do that at an above-average clip compared to the rest of the league, then hits will start to fall more frequently than they've experienced through the season's first month.
