Santana’s new plate approach reaping enormous dividends

When you start your career the way Domingo Santana did, you don’t always get a second chance.

In a brief taste of the big leagues with Houston in 2014, Santana struck out 14 times in 18 plate appearances, a shocking 77.8 percent strikeout rate. He continued his whiff-happy ways with the Astros in limited playing time in 2015, striking out 17 more times in 39 plate appearances. When Santana was eventually sent to Milwaukee in the deal that sent Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers south, his Houston career was over with a 52 percent strikeout rate.

Even in today’s strikeout-friendly climate, that’s nearly twice as much as any hitter can stand to carry. But less than a year later, Santana has settled in as Milwaukee’s starting right fielder, and he’s made one big change that has led to two huge outcomes: he’s stopped swinging at terrible pitches. That may sound overly simplistic, but it’s true. As an Astro, Santana went after 32.5 percent of pitches outside the zone. With the Brewers last year following the trade, it was down to 23.7 percent. This year, it’s down all the way to 15.2 percent.

If that sounds good, it is. It’s very good. It’s practically elite, in the sense that of the 194 qualified hitters this year, he’s essentially tied for second-best in terms of plate discipline:

2016 swing percentage outside the strike zone

1. Jose Bautista, 14.5 percent 2 (tie). Christian Yelich, 15.1 percent 2 (tie). Brett Gardner, 15.1 percent 4. Santana, 15.2 percent 5. John Jaso 15.5 percent

As a result, Santana has cut down the strikeouts to something more manageable. That 52 percent whiff rate with Houston dropped to 31.7 percent with Milwaukee in 2015, and to 29.5 percent so far in 2016. Beyond that, he’s changed his hitting approach so much that’s actually atop a 2016 leaderboard for something far more resembling the right reasons: No one has hit the ball harder this year, compared to last, than Santana.

As you’d expect, “swinging at better pitches” and “hitting the ball harder” are inexorably intertwined, as we showed here in February. Last year, hitters who made contact inside the zone had a Statcast™ exit velocity 7.8 mph harder than those who made contact outside …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com