Last night, Derek Jeter came up to the plate four times and did not reach base in any of those appearances. What seemed most frustrating was that he wasn’t working the count. Despite seeing six pitches in his last trip against Lidge, he still saw only eleven pitches all night (2.75 per PA).
Including last night’s game, Jeter is seeing 3.48 pitches per PA, which would be his lowest number since ESPN began tracking the stat in 2002. Derek’s overall swing% is up to 49.4, the highest since a mark just over 50% in 2004. When a guy has contact skills as refined as Jeter’s, you don’t mind when he swings…at good pitches. That seems to be a bit of a problem this year. Not including last night’s game, Jeter’s O-Swing% is still at a very high 29.3, almost ten points above his career average.
It looks as if this swing-more-often strategy isn’t going to change. I’ve beaten my head against a wall writing these posts about Jeter, hoping to see the trend reverse itself. If this is the way Jeter wants to go, that’s fine. He’s been hitting better of late and has a slightly improved walk rate recently. We should also note that Jeter’s BABIP is still much lower than his career mark (off by about 45 points) and it hasn’t been this low since 2004. If a correction is coming–which isn’t guaranteed due to a low line drive rate–more swings could lead to more hits.
Still, I can’t help but be frustrated with Jeter’s new found tendency to swing early. Maybe I shouldn’t hold my breath and expect him to switch his approach midway through the season, but if there’s a hitter talented enough to do it, it’s Derek.
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3 Responses to Jeter Still Swinging Freely
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TIQ IQ
As far as I’m concernd, this cuts both ways. Jeter might improve for the rest of the year or he might be swinging his way into another down year, akin to 2008. And if that’s the case, I’m all for dinging him on his next contract. No way a 36+ year-old SS whose plate discipline has mysteriously disappeared should be demanding $20M contracts.
And, yes, I’m one of the very few hard-liners against Jeter in New York. If Andy Pettitte could stomach a pay-cut, so can Jeter. A .340 wOBA just ain’t cutting it at $20M.
Hey, MJ!! Havent heard from you in a while. And I certainly agree, if his numbers stay down he’s going to take a cut. His market will have evaporated.
Last year Jete relied on the inside-out dink hits to right, which produced high BAPIP, and were very reliable as clutch hits. I think he started doing that as a defensive response to pitches in on his hands. Maybe the “book” on him was rewritten, because you don’t see that anymore.