Brett Wallace 2010

[RugbyD]

Does anyone have reports of Wallace tweaking his swing to get more loft? That would be the simple explanation for his 8 HR and .280-.290 BA. He had been talked about as more of a .325/25 hitter. Any thoughts on why the profile looks a bit different this year? Granted the sample size isnt huge, but 8hr already?

[thomasps3]

So basically, after looking over his staistics, it looks like the Walrus is making a concerted effort to loft the ball more, based as you said on a small sample size:
In 2008 and 2009, his batted ball ratios looked like this:

2008:
55% Groundballs
15% Line drives
28% Fly Balls

2009:
51% Grounders
19% Line Drives
28% Fly Balls

One can read the tea leaves a bit to see Wallace was making adjustments with his swing, as a 22% increase in his LD% in 2009 is significant

However, the real difference shows up so far this year:
2010:
34% Grounders
18% LD
47% Fly Balls

This is a huge difference, as his LD% has continued in the upper teens, but his ground ball ratio has dropped precipitously and his FB% has increased 59%.

That is why he has the numbers he has posted so far this year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him continue on this path given his baseball instincts, and how he understand that the prototypical corner infielder hits for power first...

[BoBtheMule]

You may be looking too deep.

he's in Las Vegas... thin air/altitude... ect. ect. ect.

The increased fly ball rate this year may not be a good thing if it's in a lot of other minor league parks but in LV the HR/FB ratio is much higher for everyone so I think some of Wallace's numbers are inflated.

[Havok1517]

I personally don't think he's going to be a superstar at 1B but he'd be an upgrade over Overbay on offense right now.

[thomasps3]

You may be looking too deep.

he's in Las Vegas... thin air/altitude... ect. ect. ect.

The increased fly ball rate this year may not be a good thing if it's in a lot of other minor league parks but in LV the HR/FB ratio is much higher for everyone so I think some of Wallace's numbers are inflated.

I think what we have to consider here Bob is that a ground ball is a ground ball, either in Vegas or Ipanema. A line drive is a line drive, and being on top of K2 or in Sin City it will still be a line drive. See what I am saying?

[BoBtheMule]

I understand that... but the jump in his fly ball rate... while promising is going to look better in LV than Toronto because his fb/hr rate is going to be higher in the thin air.

I've got Wallace in a league and I hope he does hit for a ton of power... but I fear that a lot of his homers in LV are going to be warning track shots in the majors.

I think his future is bright but you have to take his LV stats w/ a grain of salt.

[mblax10]

Wallace fly ball % is 44.6% on the road and 35.7% in Vegas. 39.8% overall is already starting to work it's way back to where he's been in the past.

Las Vegas is definitely a hitter friendly park, but for such a small sample the adjustment is very negligible. Yes, his HR/FB is 17.1% in Las Vegas compared to 13.7% on the road but what does that really mean? If you reduce his HR/FB in Las Vegas to 13.7%, he drops from 6 HR in Vegas this year to 4.7 HR.

[kab21]

I think what we have to consider here Bob is that a ground ball is a ground ball, either in Vegas or Ipanema. A line drive is a line drive, and being on top of K2 or in Sin City it will still be a line drive. See what I am saying?

That may or may not be true. Pitches in really dry climates (or high elevations) should have less movement and might result in different batted ball stats. I'm not sure if there is a difference in GB% but I do strongly believe that this has an effect on K rates.