Leadoff Walks and Scoring

• 📊 The New York Mets have had the most leadoff walks (31 innings), scoring in 17 of them, which is around average.
• 📈 The San Diego Padres have the highest percentage of scoring after a leadoff walk at 70%, while the Houston Astros and Cleveland Guardians are the worst at 18.8%.
• 🚀 Teams like the Braves and Orioles score the most runs per game but don't rely heavily on leadoff walks, instead focusing on hits and getting on base through various means.
• 💡 The Dodgers lead in the most innings where the first batter reaches base, indicating strong offensive consistency.

Best Hitters Not Leading Off

• 🎯 Blake Perkins (Brewers) and Mike Tauchman (Cubs) have the highest on-base percentages (524) when leading off an inning, despite not being their team's designated leadoff hitter.
• ⚾ Pete Alonso (Mets) also shows a strong on-base percentage (516) when leading off innings, with 31 such plate appearances.
• 🌟 Kyle Schwarber has the most plate appearances leading off an inning (16), while Mookie Betts ranks fourth with a 482 on-base percentage in this situation.
• 🚫 Among players with over 20 plate appearances leading off an inning and fewer than three walks, Will Smith and Trea Turner have the best on-base percentages.

The Contact Play Strategy

• 🏃 The "contact play" involves runners on third base running on any ground ball hit to the infield, with the goal of scoring the tying or go-ahead run.
• 📉 Analysis over the last three years shows the San Francisco Giants rarely attempt this play (4 times, 0 scores), while the Arizona Diamondbacks have a good success rate (10 scores, 1 out).
• ⚾ The Los Angeles Dodgers have been thrown out 10 times attempting to score on a contact play, with only three successful scores.
• 💥 The New York Yankees have a near 50/50 success rate (10 scores, 7 outs after removing squeeze plays and clear hits), but the speaker questions the overall strategy's effectiveness.

Highest and Lowest Pitches Hit

• 🔍 Jake Burger hit a single on a pitch at -172 horizontal location, the furthest outside pitch hit for a base hit.
• ⚾ Azie Alvez hit a single on a pitch with a very low vertical location, described as "so low you just throw the bat down and block it."
• 💥 Nick Fortes hit a home run on a pitch that was extremely high and outside, with the catcher setting up very far back.