Opposite day! Here's Javy's latest trick

Opposite day! Here's Javy's latest trick

May 13th, 2019

Picture a great opposite-field hitter. Did you think of ?

Probably not, right? You probably thought of someone like or , or maybe or or . Not a free-swinger whose reputation for attacking anything and everything seems antithetical to the idea of "going the other way."

Well, maybe you should have. Baez has been the best opposite-field hitter in baseball this season. By far.

There are two parts to this.

Baez is hitting the ball to the opposite field MORE.

Over a third of Baez's batted balls this season have gone to the opposite field -- 41 of 113, including his single and double in Sunday night's win over the Brewers. His opposite-field rate is the highest of the 115 hitters who enter this week with at least 100 batted balls.

Highest % of batted balls to opposite field, 2019
Min. 100 batted balls (115 hitters)
1) (CHC): 36.3%
2) (NYY): 34.7%
3) (LAD): 34.6%
4-T) (MIA): 33.3%
4-T) (ATL): 33.3%

That's a big jump from last season, when Baez went the other way just over a quarter of the time -- not a low rate, but not nearly the highest in the league. His opposite-field rate has risen in every full season of his career, from 19.3 percent in 2016 to 22.5 percent in '17 to 26.6 percent in '18 to 36.3 percent this season. This latest increase is one of the largest for any hitter (alongside one of Baez's teammates, ).

Largest increase in opposite-field %, 2018-19
Min. 250 batted balls in '18 and 75 in '19

  1. (ATL): +12.9%
  2. (CHC): +12.7%

3-T) (CHC): +9.7%
3-T) (COL): +9.7%
5) (PHI): +9.3%

The Cubs have been emphasizing a team-wide opposite-field approach all year. Baez has been at the center of it. Last week, he told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian, "I’m not doing anything different. I guess the ball’s just going that way." But the results are the results.

Baez is hitting the ball to the opposite field HARD.

Using the whole field is all well and good, but what's really important isn't just that Baez is hitting the ball the other way -- it's that he's driving the ball the other way. He's no opposite-field slap-hitter, and he's not just fighting pitches off.

Baez leads the Majors in almost every conceivable category when it comes to opposite-field hitting this season -- most by wide margins.

Baez leads the Majors with 27 opposite-field hits, 16 opposite-field extra-base hits and seven opposite-field home runs.

Baez leads the Majors in batting average to the opposite field (.659) and slugging percentage to the opposite field (1.415).

And Baez leads the Majors with a 97.3-mph average exit velocity to the opposite field, and a 63.4-percent hard-hit rate (the percentage of his batted balls there hit 95 mph or harder).

A huge portion of Baez's production -- and it's superstar production, as he enters the week with a 154 OPS+, 54 percent better than a league-average hitter -- has come to the opposite field. More than half of his 52 total hits, 26 extra-base hits and 11 homers have gone to right. And his batting average, slugging percentage, average exit velocity and hard-hit rate are all at their highest to the opposite field, compared to when he pulls the ball or hits it straightaway.

Baez actually got a lot of opposite-field hits in his breakout last season, too. He ranked 10th in oppo base hits (52) and tied for third in oppo extra-base hits (27). But the home run power is new. Baez's seven oppo homers are just one off his season total from 2018, and he only hit three in '17 and one in '16. Opposite-field homers have never even made up one-fourth of Baez's full-season total (23.5 percent in '18, 13.0 percent in '17, 7.1 percent in '16). This year, nearly two-thirds of his homers are to right (63.6 percent).

Baez has carried over all of his 2018 electricity into '19, and he's done it with the type of approach typically associated with patience, not aggression. That's what's so interesting about the whole thing.