More than ever, baseball is defined by the three true outcomes: a home run, a walk or a strikeout. In 2019, 24 different hitters had a season with 30 or more homers, 100 or more strikeouts and 70 or more walks. Over 200 times, these 24 hitters came to plate and then jogged around the bases, walked back to the dugout or walked to first base. This group of players included some of the best talents in the league, such as Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Juan Soto and Mike Trout.
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So, when baseball is trending towards these three true outcomes, what kind of player would be going in the opposite direction? Hanser Alberto, that’s who.
Alberto had just 14.2 percent of his plate appearances ended in a true outcome, which is in stark contrast to Mike Trout’s 45.8 percent or Christian Yelich’s 41.7 percent. In fact, out of the 135 hitters who qualified for the batting title, Alberto had the lowest percentage of plate appearances ending in a true outcome.
When you’re not homering, striking out or walking, that means you’re putting the ball in play and hoping it becomes a base hit. In terms of batting average, it’d be hard to argue that approach didn’t work for Alberto last year. He was just one of 19 hitters that qualified for the batting title who posted a batting average above .300, finishing the year with a .305 average. In doing so, Alberto became the first .300 hitter for the Orioles since 2008.
Alberto accomplished this feat, in part, by being willing to swing more than almost anyone in MLB. He swung at nearly 60 percent of the pitches he saw, trailing only four qualified hitters. Alberto was especially eager to swing even when the pitch wasn’t even in the strike zone, hacking at over 40 percent of the pitches outside the zone. He was just one of six qualified players to do so, a small list that included American League batting champion Tim Anderson. What made Alberto’s approach to pitches out of the zone unique is he did an excellent job making contact on those pitches. When he swung at them, he made contact 76.2 percent of time, trailing just David Fletcher and his new teammate, Jose Iglesias. On all pitches, Alberto’s contact percentage was 85.4 percent, which ranked eighth in the league. The seven players who ranked ahead of Alberto include some of the game’s best hitters: Mookie Betts and Anthony Rendon.
While he demonstrated last season he’d be willing to swing at anything and make contact with it, Alberto just didn’t hit the ball very hard. Measured by Statcast’s average exit velocity, Alberto hit the ball softer than almost anyone in baseball. Out of everyone who put the ball in play at least 400 times last season, only Nationals speedster Victor Robles had a lower average exit velocity than Alberto’s 82.8 MPH. Alberto’s hard hit percentage, measured by balls hit 95 MPH or higher, sat at under 20 percent last season, while sluggers like JD Martinez and Jorge Soler cleared 40 percent for the statistic. Alberto’s teammates Trey Mancini and Renato Nunez also had more than double the hard hit percentage of Alberto.
How hard Alberto hit the ball especially stands out compared to the other members of last season’s .300 club. Alberto’s 82.8 MPH average exit velocity was almost 11 MPH slower than Nelson Cruz’s average exit velocity and his 18.3 hard hit percentage is dwarfed by Christian Yelich’s 49.1 hard hit percentage. In fact, Alberto finished last out of everyone with a .300 batting average for both average exit velocity and hard hit percentage.
The other thing that made Alberto a unique hitter were his drastic platoon splits. In general, you expect right-handed hitters to hit better against left-handed pitchers than righties, but Alberto’s difference between southpaws and right-handers was astonishing. In 227 PA against lefties Alberto had a .948 OPS, while his 323 PA against righties produced a much lower .609 OPS. This stands out compared to the league average performance from right-handed batters, who produce a .787 OPS against left-handed pitchers and a .735 OPS facing righties. Alberto’s OPS against left-handed pitchers becomes impressive when comparing it to some of the league’s other right-handed hitters. It was higher than Pete Alonso, George Springer, Josh Donaldson and Mookie Betts.
One of the main reasons for Alberto’s wide gap in performance was how he did on low and away pitches. He saw 47 low and away pitches in the strike zone in 2019 and produced a .524 batting average from it. For low and away pitches out of the zone, he saw 112 of them and batted .390. A .390 batting average in any context is impressive, but a .390 batting average for pitches out of the zone is astonishing.
Meanwhile, his performance on low and away pitches coming from right-handers was significantly worse. He hit .167 on low and away inside the strike zone and .203 on low and away outside the strike zone. It’s quite the difference for the same two areas.
It’d be hard to find a more unique hitter in all of 2019 than Hanser Alberto. His lack of true outcomes, willingness to swing, lack of exit velocity and massive platoon splits combine to create a fascinating hitting profile. While a .300 batting average is never a bad thing, his willingness to swing and his lack of exit velocity created an underwhelming OBP and slugging percentage. Entering the 60-game 2020 season, there’s no hitter I’ll be more intrigued to watch than Alberto. Where else can you find someone who hits like him?
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).