MLB hitters swinging at first pitches at highest rate since 1988

CHICAGO AP Pete Crow-Armstrong is ready to go Same goes for Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos Ceddanne Rafaela too They are the kings of swinging at the first pitch and they have specific company Through Thursday s games the MLB-wide swing percentage on first pitches this year was according to Sportradar That is the same number as last year and an increase from in both and While there are several pitches missing from the information before the season the percentage for each of the last two years is the highest such number since it was in I just think that the message that gets preached more often these days is being ready to hit good pitches Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson announced And obviously pitchers want to get ahead because they re trying to get to two strikes as fast as doable Largest part guys seemingly feel like they can have success earlier in counts than they can later in counts Castellanos leads the way at followed by Harper another slugger with the Phillies at Crow-Armstrong an All-Star center fielder with the Cubs is next at and Rafaela of the Red Sox is fourth at They are the only qualified batters in the majors that clear according to Sportradar The -year-old Castellanos commented swinging at the first pitch isn t something that he consciously thinks about He attributed his percentage to just being ready to hit and he pointed to his first at-bat in a up-to-date encounter while detailing his approach I saw a slider for a strike which is a good pitch to hit he revealed And I m like all right well now let s see He s likely going to waste a pitch here or whatever Threw me another slider that was a good pitch to hit And then now I m - I saw two good pitches to hit and now I haven t even seen what his fastball looks like yet So for me it s just like a double-edged sword But sometimes you go up there and I might see one and you end up - Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo and Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman are the top pitchers when it comes to batters swinging at the first pitch Tigers ace Tarik Skubal who is contending for a second straight AL Cy Young Award is next followed by Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom Gausman s first-pitch swing percentage was last year and in I look at the numbers I know that it s higher than usual this year Gausman commented You know - is dependably the highest swing percentage of any count and that never changes But - has gotten higher The only reason I can think of is me and Woo throw a lot of strikes If you re an offense game-planning against us you know Hey if he s going to be in the zone within the first three pitches According to Sportradar the MLB-wide batting average on the first pitch is compared to last year and in That number has captured Gausman s attention as well I think in the past there was a lot more free strikes he announced Even thinking about scouting it was a lot more guys like Hey we can steal a strike - There s not a multitude of guys in the lineup that are like that It used to be three or four guys that would kind of see a pitch first pitch especially first at-bat Now it s maybe one or two guys Guys know they re not necessarily getting paid to get on base It s a bit of a renaissance for swinging at the first pitch after it went from in all the way down to in coinciding with an increased emphasis on on-base percentage and working the count the arrival of baseball s Moneyball era But amid advances in velocity and stuff across the major leagues that first pitch might be the best offensive opportunity since pitchers look to jump ahead in the count Gausman also mentioned the pitch clock which was added to the majors before the season as possibly forcing batters to be ready more hurriedly than before On the way to his first All-Star Match Crow-Armstrong had a OPS on the first pitch in the first half of the season That number has dropped to since the break Guys throw so hard and there s a lot of different shapes that are so hard and then a lot of different differences in speed Crow-Armstrong disclosed Pitchers are able to play the contest of now that they ve figured out that I want to attack early then they combat that with whatever they do AP Sports Writer Ben Nuckols and AP freelance reporter Ian Harrison contributed to this record AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source