2019 Review — FB Pull% Decliners

Yesterday, I discussed surgers in the final important component of my xHR/FB rate equation, FB Pull%. Today, I’ll move on to the decliners. What follows is a list of the hitters whose FB Pull% declined by at least 10 percentage points from 2018.

Welp, now we know what was partially behind Jesus Aguilar’s disappearing power! All his other metrics looked good, but his ISO mysteriously fell from the mid-.250 range to just .153. I would be tooting his horn as a nice rebound candidate for cheap, but moving to the Marlins does him no favors. Of course, the Marlins are moving in fences, so it shouldn’t be as pitcher friendly as it has been. That said, it obviously won’t come anywhere close to rivaling Miller Park where he has spent the majority of his short career hitting and the lineup remains poor.

Was Ryan O’Hearn a favorite sleeper of yours heading into the season as the Royals starting first baseman? His ISO was nearly cut in half (well, he wasn’t going to repeat an ISO above .300!) and he played himself out of a job. He might get another chance this season to recover, but he’s gotta get back to pulling his flies for any chance to rebound.

Brandon Nimmo missed much time to injury, and the small sample means that his FB Pull% decline didn’t have a chance to affect his HR/FB rate. His 2018 power breakout was driven by a spike in FB Pull%, so it all comes down to his willingness to pull.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had an opportunity to play regularly, but injuries hampered his season. Despite a decline in FB Pull%, his HR/FB rate actually rose. Since his counting stats remain underwhelming due to the injuries, perhaps he’ll come at a discount. But I wouldn’t expect another 20% HR/FB rate again.

Somehow Trevor Story managed an identical HR/FB rate despite a drop in FB Pull%. I guess Coors Fields covers all flaws, but I still want to see that rate rebound before assuming another near 20% HR/FB rate.

Jake Bauers owns an interesting skill set for a former first baseman, but one that intrigued me. Unfortunately, he regressed from his poor 2018 debut, and a decline in FB Pull% helped drive his ISO lower. Now his playing time outlook is cloudy. That said, I’m willing to gamble again on the cheap.

A falloff in FB Pull% for Yasiel Puig to below the league average led to a HR/FB rate that touched his lowest mark since 2016. He remains an enigma with his ups and downs.

So it looks like 2018 was clearly Matt Carpenter’s peak power, though his FB Pull% had sat in the mid-20% range for three straight seasons before the decline this year. Since he barely steals bases and hasn’t contributed in batting average for many, many years, he’ll need to get his pull rate back up, especially to combat his rising strikeout rate.