It has been
quite a turnaround for Alexi Casilla.
The often lamented
infielder had just 19% of his balls in play become hits in April – which resulted
in a pathetic .167/.227/.200 triple-slash – only to break loose offensively since
the beginning of May to have 37% of his balls in play turn into hits and posting
a .317/.394/.439 slash in that duration. This outburst has put Casilla’s
numbers on the brink of becoming better than average for an average middle
infielder.
Now,
statistically-inclined thinkers may ultimately question the sample size of the
95 plate appearances heading into Sunday’s game and caution everyone that
Casilla’s newfound good fortune on balls in play is likely to revert back
towards his career norm of 28%. What’s more is that even during this hot streak
since May 1, he’s still hitting the ball on the ground over 60% of the time
with even fewer recorded line drives. The laws of batted ball nature suggest that
those should start finding infield leather. Pl...
Original Story:
