In our last video, we learned about barrels, a metric used to define the most optimal combination of exit velocity and launch angle. Building on that idea, it’s important to understand how often a hitter is achieving barrels because the more frequently they make quality contact the better the results will likely be.
Barrel% Explained
Barrel% is calculated by dividing the number of barrels by a hitter’s total batted ball events, or more simply the number of balls put in play.
It’s well known that batted balls hit at certain exit velocities and launch angle parameters lead to optimal results. Therefore, a player who has a high barrel% is showing he has the skill to generate these results on a consistent basis.
Above-average power hitters barrel anywhere from 10-15% of their total batted balls, while elite power hitters barrel over 15%.
In addition to Barrel%, it is also useful to measure Barrels per plate appearance. This is because barrel percentage only counts batted ball events, and therefore it doesn’t consider hitters who draw a lot of walks and strikeouts. It gives further context when you include the total number of plate appearances.
Barrel% and Barrels per PA are useful metrics for evaluating pitchers in that it is beneficial to analyze a pitcher’s ability to limit these things, whereas as a hitter you are trying to maximize them.
We can even use these types of stats to shed further detail on whether a pitcher truly had a great or poor season. For example, if a player gives up a career-high in home runs, we might want to look at his barrel% to see if he is struggling, or if it was just an outlier season.
Summary
It’s easy to witness a hitter’s potential for power in games or a pitcher’s ability to limit it, but how consistently they produce that level of contact is what separates them from the masses. Barrel% is a stat that gives us an insight into a player’s particular ability to make or prevent consistent optimal contact.
Like Barrels, Barrel% and Barrels/PA can be found on player pages and leaderboards on BaseballSavant.com.
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