2018 Early BABIP Decliners

Yesterday, I ran my newest xBABIP calculations, comparing it to actual BABIP. I discussed a slew of hitters who are due for an imminent BABIP surge given xBABIP marks that greatly exceed their actuals. Today, let’s check in on those hitters whose xBABIP marks are significantly below their actual marks. These batters are at serious risk of dramatic regression over the rest of the season.

There’s always at least one hitter who comes out of nowhere to fuel championships. So far, Christian Villanueva is one of those very hitters. On the batting average front, xBABIP feels like this is all smoke and mirrors. Obviously, no player has .400+ BABIP skills, but this suggests Villanueva deserves a mark just above the league average. He’s hitting lots of line drives and hitting it hard, but also has hit many fly balls and is one of the rare right-handers who has actually been getting shifted.

Sheesh, who know Yoenis Cespedes was overperforming so drastically with just a .293 BABIP?! His xBABIP is just a putrid .171…that’s crazy! It’s obvious why — he’s gone fly ball crazy, at the expense of line drives, and hitting a ton of pop-ups along the way. And what’s up with that strikeout rate?! Something is going on here.

I could swear I discussed Rhys Hoskins and my feeling that he had some major BABIP upside, but can’t seem to find any articles saying that. Anyhow, I didn’t expect his BABIP to rise this much! He hits far too many fly balls to maintain a strong BABIP and has also been grounding into the shift. I’m a huge fan though, so I’m not even considering selling high.

Props to commenter hebrew for calling Dansby Swanson’s appearance here. He’s doing a lot of good things, like maintaining a better than average liner rate and keeping his pop-up rate low. He has also hit nary a grounder into the shift. His .330 xBABIP suggests he’s doing a lot of the right things, but obviously there’s always going to be a whole heaping of luck when your BABIP jumps above .400.

Every year, I boldly claim Manny Machado leads the AL in batting average. I argue that he just needs to cut his pop-up rate and enjoy a bit of good luck for it to happen. It hasn’t yet, but so far it has this year! Unfortunately, it’s not going to last. He’s still popping up a ton, to go along with lots of fly balls. Enjoy the power though.

Pretty crazy to find Brian Dozier, a right-handed batter, at 20% for grounders pulled into the shift. That, combined with a low line drive rate, should prevent him from maintaining a BABIP above .300.

Man, what happened to Miguel Sano?! His walk rate has declined, strikeout rate skyrocketed, and he’s forgot how to hit line drives. He’s lived by a high BABIP in the past, but now that’s on shaky ground.

It’s no surprise to see the lefty hitting Cody Bellinger find himself on this list. He has been shifted on 79% of his batted balls and grounded into that shifts 20% of the time. He has also hit an absurd rate of pop-ups, as his IFFB% ranks seventh highest in baseball. I’m not selling here, but just be prepared for a batting average drop.