A hitter's swing path can be characterized with three new metrics: Attack Angle,
Attack Direction and Swing Path Tilt.
Attack Angle
and Attack Direction
both pertain to the direction in
which the sweet spot of the bat is traveling as it impacts the ball. Attack Angle measures the vertical
component of that direction, as compared to the ground, while Attack Direction measures the horizontal
component, in degrees towards the "PULL" or "OPPO" direction, as compared to an imaginary line directed
from home plate to straightaway center field.
Note that both Attack Angle and Attack Direction are also tied to the batter's swing timing; that
is, an early swing will naturally tend to strike the ball with an attack direction more to "PULL" and a
higher attack angle.
Contacting the ball with an Attack Angle between 5-20° is considered "ideal".
Swing Path Tilt
measures the angular orientation of the "plane" of the swing, as compared
to the ground, defined by the path of the bat in the 40 ms prior to contact, which approximates a slice of a flat disc
in shape. A higher angle is a "steeper" swing (further from horizontal) and a lower angle is a "flatter" swing
(closer to horizontal).
Statcast bat tracking is available beginning with the second half of the 2023 season. Swing visuals on this leaderboard are generated monthly for qualifying hitters.
