Benintendi

[mvp 78]

https://www.overthemonster.com/2020/...rikeouts-walks

It hasn’t been a great start to the shortened 2020 season for the Red Sox, and specifically Andrew Benintendi has been at the center of these struggles. Currently, as I write this, Benintendi is slashing .056/.261/.083 with no homers only one run batted in to go with a dismal 18 wRC+. There’s not much that could get worse for the young left fielder, but I don’t think it’s time to panic just yet.

Digging a little deeper into his tendencies, there are some encouraging and curious things. First, his O-Swing rate is actually down five percentage points from last season and back in line with his 2018 numbers when he was a four-win player. In more basic terms, he’s not swinging at pitches outside the zone nearly as much as he did a season ago, which is obviously encouraging to see. Curiously though, his Z-Swing rate is down nine percentage points from a season ago. This means he’s not swinging at pitches inside the zone as much as he used to. This is not quite as encouraging to see in the sense that an easy way to break out of a slump is to swing at strikes. There are certainly bigger red flags to overcome when in a slump, though.

Another encouraging stat, which coincides with his improved O-Swing rate, is the rate at which he’s drawing walks. Benintendi is currently drawing walks at a 23 percent clip, which is absurdly high and in the top two percent of the league. This shows the outfielder still has his grip on the zone, and even if he’s not getting hits he’s still getting on base and in position to score runs.


Benintendi’s Z-Contact rate (rate at which he is making contact on swings in the zone) is actually at the highest mark of his career at 90 percent. A major issue here simply seems to be that he’s not pulling the trigger enough on pitches in the zone. As for pitches out of the zone, Benintendi’s contact rate is currently the lowest it has ever been and nearly 30 percentage points lower than his career rate. This means that even though he isn’t swinging at nearly as many pitches outside the zone as he used to when he does swing, he’s not making contact.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given that last stat, Benintendi’s strikeout rate right now is the highest of his career by a large margin. Currently at 34 percent, he’s currently sitting over 10 percentage points higher than last season, which was already a stark increase from the two seasons before that. A lot of this can probably be explained by the fact that he’s not swinging at pitches in the zone like he used to, and missing much more often outside the zone. With all of that going on, of course he’s going to strike out more. The good news is that both of these tendencies should self-correct as Benintendi starts to break out of this slump. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Everything is magnified currently in a short season and the longer a slump goes on the more pressure there is on the hitter, which doesn’t help the chances of breaking out. We’ve seen enough from Benintendi as a hitter to know that, in the most basic sense of the word, he can hit. He’s always had a handle on the strike zone and that seems even more true this season. So, if his tendencies show he needs to swing at more pitches in the zone, I feel confident he can and will overcome this slump shortly.



I disagree. The contact he's actually making right now is piss poor. Until he can make more solid contact, being more aggressive in the zone is just going to induce more groundouts. I don't know if it's mental or mechanical, but I don't see him turning this around quickly.

[mvp 78]

Beni from 9/4/19 - end of last season:

367 OPS

[notin]

https://www.overthemonster.com/2020/...rikeouts-walks

It hasn’t been a great start to the shortened 2020 season for the Red Sox, and specifically Andrew Benintendi has been at the center of these struggles. Currently, as I write this, Benintendi is slashing .056/.261/.083 with no homers only one run batted in to go with a dismal 18 wRC+. There’s not much that could get worse for the young left fielder, but I don’t think it’s time to panic just yet.

Digging a little deeper into his tendencies, there are some encouraging and curious things. First, his O-Swing rate is actually down five percentage points from last season and back in line with his 2018 numbers when he was a four-win player. In more basic terms, he’s not swinging at pitches outside the zone nearly as much as he did a season ago, which is obviously encouraging to see. Curiously though, his Z-Swing rate is down nine percentage points from a season ago. This means he’s not swinging at pitches inside the zone as much as he used to. This is not quite as encouraging to see in the sense that an easy way to break out of a slump is to swing at strikes. There are certainly bigger red flags to overcome when in a slump, though.

Another encouraging stat, which coincides with his improved O-Swing rate, is the rate at which he’s drawing walks. Benintendi is currently drawing walks at a 23 percent clip, which is absurdly high and in the top two percent of the league. This shows the outfielder still has his grip on the zone, and even if he’s not getting hits he’s still getting on base and in position to score runs.


Benintendi’s Z-Contact rate (rate at which he is making contact on swings in the zone) is actually at the highest mark of his career at 90 percent. A major issue here simply seems to be that he’s not pulling the trigger enough on pitches in the zone. As for pitches out of the zone, Benintendi’s contact rate is currently the lowest it has ever been and nearly 30 percentage points lower than his career rate. This means that even though he isn’t swinging at nearly as many pitches outside the zone as he used to when he does swing, he’s not making contact.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given that last stat, Benintendi’s strikeout rate right now is the highest of his career by a large margin. Currently at 34 percent, he’s currently sitting over 10 percentage points higher than last season, which was already a stark increase from the two seasons before that. A lot of this can probably be explained by the fact that he’s not swinging at pitches in the zone like he used to, and missing much more often outside the zone. With all of that going on, of course he’s going to strike out more. The good news is that both of these tendencies should self-correct as Benintendi starts to break out of this slump. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Everything is magnified currently in a short season and the longer a slump goes on the more pressure there is on the hitter, which doesn’t help the chances of breaking out. We’ve seen enough from Benintendi as a hitter to know that, in the most basic sense of the word, he can hit. He’s always had a handle on the strike zone and that seems even more true this season. So, if his tendencies show he needs to swing at more pitches in the zone, I feel confident he can and will overcome this slump shortly.



I disagree. The contact he's actually making right now is piss poor. Until he can make more solid contact, being more aggressive in the zone is just going to induce more groundouts. I don't know if it's mental or mechanical, but I don't see him turning this around quickly.

5.6% line drive rate. That’s something you expect from a pitcher.

When you’re hitting nothing but lazy fly balls and weak groundouts, it strongly suggests you’re not making good barrel contact, lining up the planar center of mass of the bat with the center of mass of the ball. Basically, he’s swinging a hair too high or a hair too low.

This could mean he’s either changed his swing too much or he’s simply not seeing the ball like he used to. That he’s going the other way weakly so often (or flat out missing the ball) does suggest the latter...

[mvp 78]

5.6% line drive rate. That’s something you expect from a pitcher.

When you’re hitting nothing but lazy fly balls and weak groundouts, it strongly suggests you’re not making good barrel contact, lining up the planar center of mass of the bat with the center of mass of the ball. Basically, he’s swinging a hair too high or a hair too low.

This could mean he’s either changed his swing too much or he’s simply not seeing the ball like he used to. That he’s going the other way weakly so often (or flat out missing the ball) does suggest the latter...

Option him to the player pool. He can get extra reps in Pawtucket. He's not helping himself at all right now. I wonder if it's also much harder to work with a hitting coach due to COVID restrictions.

[notin]

Option him to the player pool. He can get extra reps in Pawtucket. He's not helping himself at all right now. I wonder if it's also much harder to work with a hitting coach due to COVID restrictions.

He’ll get more reps against better pitching where he is. And do we really need to see John Andreoli in MLB right now?

[mvp 78]

He’ll get more reps against better pitching where he is. And do we really need to see John Andreoli in MLB right now?

How will he get more reps in BOS? He's not playing every day and is being lifted for pinch hitters a lot. Down in PAW, he could hit as much as he wants (could literally be Bugs Bunny and hit 1 - 9) and can at least try to get some sort of groove back.

[5GoldGloves:OF,75]

One stat most concerning from game announcers is that the Red Sox lead the majors in percentage of swings and misses at pitches out of the strike zone. This has been a trend for awhile -- at least the two-strike, low-and-away slider or change-up. Even in their great year, guys like JD and Bogie from the right side, and Devers, Moreland and JBJ from the left, seemed like dead meat at junk they could never lay off; if I had one of them down in the count, I'd never throw a fastball.

I know this is indicative of modern batters, and the way batteries approach them, but the fact that Boston is dead last in flailing is a bad sign. JD has struggled without his ipad, Devers is hacking like a rookie (hoping a pitch hits his sweet spot), and Beni has never been this dismal.

At least there's hope that contact types like Verdugo and Peraza will continue to improve once they get used to their new team and league.

[mvp 78]

One stat most concerning from game announcers is that the Red Sox lead the majors in percentage of swings and misses at pitches out of the strike zone. This has been a trend for awhile -- at least the two-strike, low-and-away slider or change-up. Even in their great year, guys like JD and Bogie from the right side, and Devers, Moreland and JBJ from the left, seemed like dead meat at junk they could never lay off; if I had one of them down in the count, I'd never throw a fastball.

I know this is indicative of modern batters, and the way batteries approach them, but the fact that Boston is dead last in flailing is a bad sign. JD has struggled without his ipad, Devers is hacking like a rookie (hoping a pitch hits his sweet spot), and Beni has never been this dismal.

At least there's hope that contact types like Verdugo and Peraza will continue to improve once they get used to their new team and league.

I don't believe Peraza will get better.

[5GoldGloves:OF,75]

I don't believe Peraza will get better.

If the ages 28-32 represent a big leaguer's prime, can we expect most of Boston's lineup to at least slightly improve? Based on that traditional range, here's the Red Sox' not-quite-ready-for-prime-timers: Chavis 24, Peraza 26, Bogie 27, Devers 23, Beni 25, Verdugo 24. By next season, the old-timer on the field could be Vazquez at 30, with Jarren Duran, 24, probably manning center field.

Sox fans can hardly wait until next year (all we need is for Bloom to somehow resurrect the '95 Braves starting rotation...).

[dannycater]

Ben-Minus-10...I loved him, and now I don't know what to say. He had a chance to step with Mookie gone, and he continues to be a slump already happening. He and JBJR need to figure it out. How fucking sad that in a big series (well they all were), on a given Sunday the outfield was Verdugo, Pillar, and JD. Not saying that Alex and M(Pillar) aren't doing their jobs as they are at least showing heart and making plays, hitting some bombs. Just that when you had that monster multi-faceted OF of The Killer B's. It's just sad to see it all end fast for that group after a WS title in 2018....also injury was very convenient excuse to get out of the media blitz.

[notin]

One stat most concerning from game announcers is that the Red Sox lead the majors in percentage of swings and misses at pitches out of the strike zone. This has been a trend for awhile -- at least the two-strike, low-and-away slider or change-up. Even in their great year, guys like JD and Bogie from the right side, and Devers, Moreland and JBJ from the left, seemed like dead meat at junk they could never lay off; if I had one of them down in the count, I'd never throw a fastball.

I know this is indicative of modern batters, and the way batteries approach them, but the fact that Boston is dead last in flailing is a bad sign. JD has struggled without his ipad, Devers is hacking like a rookie (hoping a pitch hits his sweet spot), and Beni has never been this dismal.

At least there's hope that contact types like Verdugo and Peraza will continue to improve once they get used to their new team and league.

Remember a few years ago when the Red Sox sent a lineup of patient hitters up to the plate and took lots of pitches and every wanted them to be more aggressive?

[notin]

If the ages 28-32 represent a big leaguer's prime, can we expect most of Boston's lineup to at least slightly improve? Based on that traditional range, here's the Red Sox' not-quite-ready-for-prime-timers: Chavis 24, Peraza 26, Bogie 27, Devers 23, Beni 25, Verdugo 24. By next season, the old-timer on the field could be Vazquez at 30, with Jarren Duran, 24, probably manning center field.

Sox fans can hardly wait until next year (all we need is for Bloom to somehow resurrect the '95 Braves starting rotation...).

Hopefully we get Sale and ERod back. That would bolster the rotation big time...

[dannycater]

Watching Pillar swinging first pitch. You watch Yankee at bats, they go on forever. That's what Sox used to be in 17-18. Not anymore. It's get the at bat over with while the Yanks it's foul it off, take to 3-2, hit a bomb, etc.

[notin]

Watching Pillar swinging first pitch. You watch Yankee at bats, they go on forever. That's what Sox used to be in 17-18. Not anymore. It's get the at bat over with while the Yanks it's foul it off, take to 3-2, hit a bomb, etc.

Be fair. Pillar is facing actual MLB pitchers! Put him up against this Sox staff, and he might turn into Willie Mays Jr...

[dannycater]

Mike Ford is Babe Ruth v. Sox