Hitter Questions
H1: Freeman, Donaldson, Acuna… which hitter will have the higher OPS (On-base% + Slugging%)? [Hitter must qualify for batting title]
- ACUNA: 54.7%
- FREEMAN: 39.6%
- DONALDSON: 5.6%
This contest had a healthy race down to the wire. Despite a poor September, Freddie Freeman still edged out the others with a .938. Donaldson was second at .900, and Acuna faded to .883.
Ozzie Albies was close too: .852.
H2: Dansby Swanson and Johan Camargo: who gets more plate appearance in 2019?
- SWANSON: 56.9%
- CAMARGO: 43.1%
You may have forgotten the reason behind this question, which was how we felt about Dansby Swanson’s chances of having a bounce-back year in 2019.
That question was answered early… and Camargo’s struggles made this entire question academic just as quickly: Swanson came to the dish 545 times; Camargo just 248.
H3: In 2018, the Braves tied St. Louis for 5th in regular season runs scored with 759. In 2019, the team will score…
- 770 RUNS OR MORE: 65.8%
- 769 RUNS OR FEWER: 34.2%
Right again! In 2019, the Braves plated a whopping 855 runs; the most since 2003 (907 that year!).
H4: Ronald Acuña Jr. will be an All-Star in 2019.
- TRUE: 96.9%
- FALSE: 3.1%
Wow. This wasn’t much of a contest… and yes: he made the All-Star squad… though he was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts.
H5: As a team, the Atlanta Braves hitters will strike out less AND walk more than in 2018 (regular season only). [20.6% K rate; 8.2% walk rate]
- TRUE: 55.5%
- FALSE: 44.5%
- 2019 WALKS: 9.8% rate (BETTER)
- 2019 STRIKEOUTS: 23.3% (WORSE)
So the minority of readers were correct this time as strikeouts were up by 2.7%.
Walks were indeed also up by a healthy amount, but you can probably lay most of the blame for this strikeout increase on Austin Riley and Tyler Flowers, though Donaldson contributed a bit as well.