MLB: Highest and Lowest Whiff% on Chanegups in 2019 – Hitters’ Edition

Since we are without any baseball for a few more weeks, we will continue our look into Whiff% rates from last season. Today we’ll look at which hitters had the highest and lowest rates from 2019, as well as which hitters whiffed the most on the pitch.

Most Whiffs on Changeups in 2019

Before we go into the Whiff% rates, let’s go over which hitters whiffed the most off the change. At the top of the list from last season is one of the best power hitters in the game, but someone who struggled quite a bit with the pitch last season.

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# Team Player # of Whiffs  # of Swings
1 Pirates Josh Bell 93 241
t-2 Rangers Danny Santana 77 220
t-2 Phillies Bryce Harper 77 203
4 Orioles Jonathan Villar 74 208
5 Royals Adalberto Mondesi 73 179

 

Pirates first baseman Josh Bell, who smacked 37 home runs last season, finished first last season in whiffs against the change. Bell, who batted just .209 off the pitch and struck out 27 (out of 117) times off the change. Danny Santana of the Rangers and Bryce Harper of the Phillies finished tied for second.

In case you’re interested, here are the five hitters who saw the most changeups in baseball last season:

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Highest Whiff% on Sliders

In order to qualify for these lists, a hitter must have faced at least 100 changeups from opposing pitchers last season

Here are the hitters who had the highest Whiff% rate on the changeup last season:

# Team Player # of Whiffs  # of Swings Whiff%
1 Yankees Aaron Judge 60 97 61.9%
2 Rangers Joey Gallo 42 72 58.3%
3 Twins Miguel Sano 51 96 53.1%
4 Phillies Scott Kingery 43 91 47.3%
5 Marlins Isan Diaz 30 66 45.5%
6 Orioles Dwight Smith Jr. 43 98 43.9%
7 White Sox Eloy Jimenez 42 96 43.8%
8 Blue Jays Teoscar Hernandez 35 83 42.2%
9 Twins Jonathan Schoop 50 120 41.7%
10 Cubs Willson Contreras 37 89 41.6%

 

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who batted .179 off the change, finished last season with the highest Whiff% rate off the changeup. Rangers OF Joey Gallo, who also had the highest Whiff% rate off the slider last season, also finished 2019 with the second-highest Whiff% rate of the change. One other interesting note on the top 10 is that Marlins infielder Isan Diaz, who didn’t play his first ever game in the Majors until August 5 last season, finished 2019 with the fifth-highest Whiff% rate (45.3%).

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Lowest Whiff% on Sliders

# Team Player # of Whiffs  # of Swings Whiff%
1 Rockies Daniel Murphy 7 98 7.1%
2 Angels David Fletcher 7 97 7.2%
3 Braves Nick Markakis 12 117 10.3%
4 Twins Luis Arraez 8 77 10.4%
5 Astros Michael Brantley 16 144 11.1%
6 Red Sox Christian Vazquez 11 88 12.5%
7 Nationals Anthony Rendon 16 124 12.9%
8 Pirates Kevin Newman 15 100 15.0%
9 Angels Albert Pujols 11 73 15.1%
10 Red Sox Mookie Betts 20 124 16.1%

 

If you’re interested in more articles like this, check out our Analytics page.


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