Over the past few weeks, we’ve gone over Whiff% rates for pitchers, but today we move back to the hitters. Let’s take a look at which hitters whiffed the least and the most on the slider.
Most Whiffs on Sliders in 2019
Just like with the pitchers, we’ll go over which hitters whiffed the most on the slider, and a 40 home run hitter from last season tops the list.
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| # | Team | Player | # of Whiffs | # of Swings |
| 1 | Royals | Jorge Soler | 162 | 341 |
| 2 | Tigers/Cubs | Nicholas Castellanos | 147 | 360 |
| 3 | Marlins | Jorge Alfaro | 132 | 277 |
| 4 | Blue Jays | Randal Grichuk | 131 | 339 |
| 5 | Padres/Indians | Franmil Reyes | 128 | 261 |
Royals outfielder Jorge Soler, who mashed 48 home runs last season, topped the list for the most whiffs. Nick Castellanos, who had the 13th highest Swing% rate (54.7%) last season, finished last season with the second most whiffs off the slider.
Also, in case you’re interested, both Soler and Castellanos were two of six hitters who saw at least 600 sliders last season.
hitters who saw the most sliders in #MLB last season:
1. #Royals – Jorge Soler (768)
2. #Phillies – Rhys Hoskins (700)
3. #Rangers – Elvis Andrus (649)
4. #RedSox – Xander Bogaerts (647)
5. #Royals – Whit Merrifield (636)
6. #Tigers/#Cubs – Nick Castellanos (608)— New Baseball Media (@NewBBMedia) March 11, 2020
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Highest Whiff% on Sliders
In order to qualify for these lists, a hitter must have faced at least 200 sliders from opposing pitchers last season
Here are the hitters who had the highest Whiff% rate on the slider last season:
| # | Team | Player | # of Whiffs | # of Swings | Whiff% |
| 1 | Rangers | Joey Gallo | 59 | 101 | 58.4% |
| 2 | Padres | Fernando Tatis Jr. | 82 | 148 | 55.4% |
| 3 | Yankees | Aaron Judge | 96 | 177 | 54.2% |
| 4 | Twins | Miguel Sano | 114 | 221 | 54.0% |
| 5 | Orioles | Chris Davis | 57 | 110 | 51.8% |
| 6 | Rays | Brandon Lowe | 80 | 155 | 51.6% |
| 7 | White Sox | Welington Castillo | 37 | 73 | 50.7% |
| 8 | Twins | Nelson Cruz | 117 | 231 | 50.6% |
| 9 | Braves | Austin Riley | 80 | 160 | 50.0% |
| 10 | Phillies | Bryce Harper | 115 | 231 | 49.8% |
Joey Gallo made have had career highs in batting average and OPS last season, but he still whiffed on pitchers quite a bit last year, and his 58.4% Whiff% rate was proof of that. Interesting note on the top 10 here is that all but one of those players above swung at sliders at least 100 times, with the lone exception being former White Sox catcher Welington Castillo.
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Lowest Whiff% on Sliders
| # | Team | Player | # of Whiffs | # of Swings | Whiff% |
| 1 | Braves | Nick Markakis | 16 | 110 | 14.5% |
| 2 | Nationals | Anthony Rendon | 34 | 201 | 16.9% |
| 3 | Indians | Jose Ramirez | 20 | 118 | 16.9% |
| 4 | Orioles | Hanser Alberto | 38 | 220 | 17.2% |
| 5 | Rangers | Logan Forsythe | 15 | 84 | 17.9% |
| 6 | Angels | David Fletcher | 42 | 231 | 18.2% |
| 7 | Astros | Alex Bregman | 34 | 186 | 18.3% |
| 8 | Reds | Jesse Winker | 20 | 109 | 18.3% |
| 9 | Blue Jays/Rays | Eric Sogard | 19 | 99 | 19.2% |
| 10 | Yankees | Brett Gardner | 24 | 125 | 19.2% |
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