3 unluckiest hitters in MLB: Guardians' Kyle Manzardo, Mariners' Josh Naylor, Royals' Bobby Witt expected stats draw attention
3 unluckiest hitters in MLB: Guardians' Kyle Manzardo, Mariners' Josh Naylor, Royals' Bobby Witt expected stats draw attention originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
It's still quite early in the MLB season, and that can create some concerning stat lines.
Some of the stats have real reason for concern, but others beg for patience. That definitely holds true for the three unluckiest hitters in baseball through Monday, April 6: the Guardians' Kyle Manzardo , Mariners ' Josh Naylor and Royals' Bobby Witt.
Statcast has what it calls "expected stats," which are based on batted ball data and can be compared to actual output.
If a hitter is hitting the ball better than the results would seem to indicate, that can be shown through these Statcast offerings.
By "expected weighted on base average," no one is unluckier than Manzardo this season (a differential of negative-0.162 in that stat). Naylor (-0.152) and Witt (-0.142) are right next to him on that leaderboard.
Manzardo is only hitting .063 in batting average this season. His expected batting average is .231.
Naylor's supposed to be hitting .247, not .114.
Witt already has a .270 batting average, but it's all singles. His expected slugging is .522, not the .270 it currently sits at.
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This is the kind of information that might feel quite relevant to fantasy baseball players. Don't give up on Manzardo or Naylor quite yet.
Soon enough, the turnaround might arrive. And for Witt, he may just contend for an MVP if he keeps hitting the ball the way he is.
