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Hello, RotoBallers! As another week of baseball wraps up, I will recap which hitters had the most impactful plate appearances in the past few days. Using Statcast's Barrels per Plate Appearance stat, or Brls/PA %, we can narrow our view to the hitters who are the most locked in to begin the season.
Statcast's Brls/PA % works by dividing the total number of barrels by the number of plate appearances within the given period. The higher the Brls/PA %, the more often the hitter makes ideal contact with the baseball. We will also examine other stats, but the Brls/PA % will be the main focus of this piece.
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Brls/PA % Leaders
| Player | BBE | Max Exit Velocity (MPH) | Avg Exit Velocity (MPH) | Brls | Brls/PA% | |
| Shohei Ohtani | 96 | 119.2 | 94.8 | 23 | 17.0 | |
| Salvador Perez | 87 | 110.6 | 92.6 | 16 | 14.7 | |
| Tyler O'Neill | 48 | 110.6 | 92.5 | 11 | 13.8 | |
| Ryan O'Hearn | 55 | 108.8 | 93.3 | 9 | 13.2 | |
| Tyler Stephenson | 49 | 111.0 | 93.4 | 10 | 13.0 | |
| Yordan Alvarez | 92 | 113.9 | 93.4 | 15 | 12.5 | |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | 89 | 113.3 | 95.4 | 15 | 12.3 | |
| Juan Soto | 90 | 115.7 | 95.0 | 16 | 12.2 | |
| Mike Trout | 77 | 114.5 | 89.1 | 14 | 11.9 | |
| Marcell Ozuna | 77 | 114.6 | 92.9 | 13 | 11.9 | |
| Shea Langeliers | 66 | 110.8 | 91.5 | 11 | 11.8 | |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 57 | 116.7 | 93.5 | 11 | 11.7 | |
| Taylor Ward | 86 | 108.6 | 91.8 | 13 | 11.1 | |
| Davis Schneider | 40 | 108.8 | 90.7 | 7 | 11.1 | |
| Adolis Garcia | 75 | 111.8 | 93.3 | 12 | 10.9 | |
| Colton Cowser | 43 | 113.6 | 91.3 | 8 | 10.5 | |
| Riley Greene | 64 | 111.0 | 91.2 | 12 | 10.3 | |
| Ivan Herrera | 40 | 112.4 | 91.5 | 6 | 10.2 | |
| Michael Busch | 58 | 109.0 | 90.9 | 10 | 10.1 | |
| Edouard Julien | 56 | 106.9 | 90.8 | 10 | 10.1 | |
| Edward Olivares | 46 | 109.9 | 86.5 | 6 | 9.7 | |
| Travis d'Arnaud | 50 | 109.8 | 92.5 | 7 | 9.6 | |
| Rhys Hoskins | 70 | 107.4 | 88.7 | 10 | 9.5 | |
| Jake Burger | 46 | 112.9 | 89.6 | 6 | 9.4 | |
| Gunnar Henderson | 78 | 112.8 | 89.6 | 11 | 9.2 | |
Notable Players
Shohei Ohtani is once again atop the leaderboard. Ohtani continued his dominance this week, recording the hardest-hit ball of the season on a 119.2 mph RBI single against Yusei Kikuchi of the Toronto Blue Jays.
After five weeks of baseball, Ohtani has the most BBE, highest max exit velocity, most balls hit 95 mph or harder, most barrels, and highest Brls/PA%. Despite tearing the covers off baseball, Ohtani is only striking out 17.8% of the time and is 10th in batting average this season at .336. The Japanese superstar is leading the league in doubles, second in hits, third in slugging, and sixth in runs scored. The Dodgers' high-powered offense has more than a few weapons, and Ohtani is certainly doing his part.
Salvador Perez is second on the leaderboard this week, and that should be no surprise. The Kansas City Royals veteran catcher is batting .340 with a .592 slugging percentage and .990 OPS. Perez has been demolishing baseballs through the first five weeks of the season while only striking out 11.9% of the time, good for the 94th percentile. The only blemishes on his bright red Statcast page are his 44.9% chase rate and 7.3% walk rate.
Perez has always been an aggressive hitter throughout his career, and there is no reason to believe that will change now. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing when you possess the bat-to-ball skills he does. The Royals catcher has a 68.5% chase contact rate this season and a 60.1% chase contact rate for his career. His tendency to chase will always hurt his walk rate, but when he's doing everything else right, it's hard to complain.
It's time we talk about the Oakland Athletics catcher with the 94th percentile barrel rate this season, Shea Langeliers. Langeliers has six home runs on the year and the best may still be to come for him.
Shea strikes early ☄️ pic.twitter.com/HNaidvKMyM
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) April 26, 2024
The Athletics catcher is batting .165 with a .388 slugging percentage and a .603 OPS. Langeliers' quality of contact metrics suggests he should be producing at a much higher rate than he currently is. The 26-year-old has a .254 xBA, which is nearly 90 points higher than his actual, and a .546 xSLG, which is over 150 points higher than his actual. Langeliers has below-average strikeout and walk rates, but they are not so poor that they should deter you from him. Langeliers is a buy-low candidate.
New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton finds himself on the leaderboard this week and is returning to his old ways. Stanton has a 19.3% barrel rate, which ranks in the 98th percentile, along with his 95th percentile average exit velocity of 93.5 mph. Despite his success hitting the ball hard, the 34-year-old still has the same flaws that he has always had.
Stanton has a strikeout rate of 31.9% this season. The Yankees designated hitter also has a 33.5% whiff rate and a 32.8% chase rate through the season's first five weeks. Stanton's .236 xBA and .478 xSLG also suggest that he is performing as well as he should be. Stanton's approach to hitting lends itself to excellent power output but also makes him more prone to streaks than other hitters. Those streaks can be great when he rattles off multiple home runs in a given week, but his slumps will also come. Stanton is a volatile hitter who is a good source of power in category leagues but nearly nothing else.
The last hitter I want to highlight is Edward Olivares. The Pirates outfielder has appeared on the leaderboard in the past weeks, so it is time we addressed his presence. Olivares is an interesting hitter to dissect because his Statcast page alternates between bright red and dark blue in intriguing areas.
Olivares has an xBA of .359, which ranks in the 99th percentile and is miles above his actual batting average of .233. The Pirates outfielder also has a good barrel rate but a poor hard-hit rate. He has an excellent xSLG but a poor average exit velocity. Diving more into his batted ball data, I found that Olivares has a 29.8% line drive rate, putting him at 11th among qualified hitters. The 28-year-old currently has a .250 BABIP, so the best may still be to come for him. Olivares may not have light tower power, but he may be in for a breakout if it all comes together.
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