Sunday Brunch: Three Stats To Watch For 2015 Padres Hitters

Happy new year to all who are reading this. It’s finally 2015, which means it’s finally close to Spring Training and baseball season. The Padres are certainly going to be one of the teams to watch in 2015 with all the moves that were made. I decided to look at some stats that aren’t necessarily positive as we look at 2015.

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Fangraphs does a ball in play leaders and laggers, and in looking at it, I found some Padres on there, mainly new ones, and why there should be a bit of concern about them.

With Will Middlebrooks on board, Yangervis Solarte will probably find himself on the bench in a backup role. However, Middlebrooks didn’t set the world on fire last year. Solarte did hit .291 vs lefties last year, so he could find himself on the field against them.

For someone who had just a .369 slugging percentage, you’d want to see some more line drives out of him. However, he had one of the lowest line drive percentages in the AL while with the Yankees last season at 17.7% percent. You wonder if that will change in his second year when/if he plays.

Another one who was on that list is Wil Myers. In a big ballpark you want to see some liners hit because it gives you a better chance to get a hit. Myers had a lower percentage than Solarte with a 17.4%. This could change because he’s still a young developing player, and he had wrist injury.

Derek Norris was an All-Star for the A’s last season. He hit just .245 in the second half last season with two homers. His .294 first half may have had something to do with this stat. When Norris hit the ball on the ground, he had a .336 average. That is completely unsustainable, because he doesn’t exactly have the speed of Everth Cabrera and will more than likely effect his numbers in 2015.

Keep an eye on all of these rates in 2015. If Myers and Solarte can hit more line drives it will help their overall numbers. Norris will have to as well, becuase that groundball average won’t last.