cuba 2.0, publicación digital del PDC-Cuba

You know that Vladimir Guerrero is in here. Vladimir Guerrero pretty much has to be in here. But what about the others? And which player took the worst cut of all?

Last Friday, we published this feature about extreme pitches hit for home runs during in 2011. I liked the data interpretation so much that, Friday night, I ran this feature on my own site about the worst swings Mariners hitters made during the 2011 season. Bad swings aren't as exciting as dingers, but I couldn't run a dingers feature for the Mariners because they didn't hit any. I thought a worst swings feature would be more appropriate.

As it happens, though, researching the Mariners' worst swings made me curious about everyone's worst swings. So I decided to pursue this feature as well. I understand that this makes me out to be kind of a one-trick pony at the moment, but I'm sure it'll pass in time. And besides, who doesn't love .gifs? That's an honest question. Who doesn't love .gifs? Is there anybody who doesn't love .gifs?

My definition of a bad swing is not a swing where the hitter trips and falls or lets go of the bat or something. Rather, I'm looking for swings at pitches the furthest away from the strike zone. Swings that were poorly conceived. Swings where the hitter falls or lets go of the bat are bad swings, too, but they're not bad swings for our purposes. There isn't data for sloppy or mechanically improper swings. There is data for swings at wild pitches.

Below, 2011's top ten swings at pitches out of the zone. Again, this isn't as cool as looking at footage of dingers, but I had to sate my curiosity.

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