One stat that highlights a larger issue with the SF Giants approach at the plate

If you feel like SF Giants hitters are looking at too many pitchers down the plate, you might not be alone. In fact, they are more passive than just about any team in baseball on middle-middle locations out over the plate.

One stat that highlights a larger issue with the SF Giants approach at the plate

The Giants have a relatively high strikeout rate at 22.7 percent, but is it due to poor bat-to-ball skills? They do have a lot of hitters who strike out at a high rate, and strikeouts are part of today's game. If a player hits with a lot of power, then it is easy to overlook a high strikeout rate.

That strikeout rate is not due to a lot of swinging and missing. It is also not due to chasing pitches out of the zone at a high rate. According to Baseball Savant, the Giants have an 82.8 percent in-zone contact rate, which is a tick above the league average rate of 82.6 percent. They swing and miss, but it is not necessarily a weakness.

They also have a 26.8 percent chase rate, which is one of the better marks in baseball. It is one of the reasons why they have a high walk rate at 9.1 percent, but it is not the only reason. The Giants have one of the lowest swing rates in baseball.

On Monday night, Patrick Bailey struck out three times looking. That has been too common of an occurrence for Giants hitters. The bat did not leave his shoulders.

Here is an even larger issue. The Giants are not only too passive at the plate, but they are also watching too many good pitches go by without swinging. Baseball Savant has a metric for this. The term is meatball, which is self-explanatory.

A meatball refers to a pitch that lands in the middle of the strike zone. Pitchers do not intentionally try to throw the ball in the middle of the zone. Hitters are too good and will take advantage of the mistake more often than not.

Some teams take more advantage of mistakes than others. The Giants belong in the other category. Giants hitters have seen a meatball location in 8.2 percent of pitches this season. That is the second-highest rate in baseball. Only the Boston Red Sox have seen a higher rate at 8.3 percent. That is great news, right?

Well, sort of. Giants hitters have one of the lowest swing rates on meatball pitches at 74.1 percent. To put it differently, they are seeing more mistakes than most teams, but swinging at a lower rate than just about every team in baseball. That is the sign of a poor approach.

These numbers can be somewhat ambiguous. A batting average is easy to understand. It is a tangible number. This a little more open to interpretation. What does it really mean? In these scenarios, I tend to look at how offenses are doing relative to this stat.

The Giants' lineup has put up a 94 wRC+ this season, which is in the lower third of baseball. They are looking at too many mistake pitches and not hitting well. There has to be a correlation here. On the other end of the spectrum, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, and Toronto Blue Jays have some of the highest swing rates on meatball pitches. What do these teams have in common? They are some of the best offenses in baseball.

For the Giants, is this a coaching issue? Is this a player issue? It is hard to say conclusively one way or the other. The hitting coaches must be aware of this issue, but the players have to execute as well. Regardless of who is more responsible, it is a sign of a poor approach. For a team that is not hitting well, it is easy to look at this as one of the culprits. Swinging more frequently at mistake pitches would seem to be a good approach.

After all, no pitcher is perfect. They miss in the middle of the zone more than they would like. However, Giants hitters are just not aggressive enough on those pitches.

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