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% |
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