Looking at hitters who are steep in both directions (VBA and Attack Angle), the performance difference is eye-popping relative to the flat group. Wow!

@goldrushbobcats There's no public batted ball data on N. Kurtz so I can't really offer an opinion

@nyceejayy There are several factors in there that all relate to better contact quality while normalizing for power (VBA, AA, LA consistency, low spin contact). See pinned tweet - majority of score is VBA and AA

@jckwags5 In looking at the data, players at the upper ends in both Power and Path, the slope of the relationship w/ contact quality (xwOBAcon) steepens materially. So our guess is it's the contact quality (xwOBAcon) that is being underestimated

@dominikkeul @Alex_Caravan Judge’s Attack Angle is significantly higher which must be considered in BtB. See website for in depth research on this

@Alex_Caravan Pretty surprising comment coming from someone w/ industry experience who should know better. Be happy to do a comparison of performance predictability w/ the Driveline metrics

@JamesTaylorDPT It's based on EV90 - avg of top 10% of EVs. It's down quite a bit this year. His avg EV is also down this year

@RealNoDeuces Thanks! It seems to be links – so if you type in directly, it should be OK

As we start looking for hitter surprises next year, keep an eye on Trevor Larnach. Scores for path/power/plate/btb are: 98/87/73/92 - Overall 89 Power & btb skill improving, solid path. We expect him to be well above avg next year Also, the updates for Sept are posted

@ParodyMcWhorter @bymichaelrosen Yes, but only minimally. Keep in mind the strike zone is adjusted for height so a pitch at the knees for a tall player will have the same relative swing height for a shorter player. The only difference is the distance below the zone which is greater for the taller player

@bymichaelrosen The swing plane has 2 separate and distinct angles + a bat angle. The 2nd angle of the plane is the catcher to pitcher tilt in the swing plane as viewed from the side. So to understand the underlying *source* of an AA problem, you have to look at all 3 angles (VBA,HBA,EL)

Granted, it's a small sample but his contact quality is likely to be below avg w/ his path issues (His EVI_CQ rank is 4) Also, his wOBA is running almost 100 pts over his xwOBA I'm sure we are going to catch heat on this one but keep in mind proj sys have him below avg 2/

@redsox4_life R. Anthony 2/ 40 /84 /33 Overall 35 K. Campbell 19 /74 /92 /39 Overall 58

@DolphHauldhagen @tangotiger Yes, absolutely correct. While the *change* in AA is mostly timing, hitters use sig more catcher-to-pitcher swing tilt on outside vs. inside pitches. The 'source' of loft/AA is different This research will *finally* set hitters straight on trying to keep the barrel 'in the zone'

@jwillyburner No, but his attack angle is up which is definitely helping. Hoping the VBA increase from last month would continue but it didn't Progress, but he's going to need to get the VBA up to get back to where he was