Busch Stadium
The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Matt Thaiss will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Jack Flaherty in today's game.
When assessing his overall offensive ability, Lars Nootbaar ranks in the 87th percentile according to THE BAT X projects. Lars Nootbaar is penciled in 1st on the lineup card in this matchup. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Lars Nootbaar will have the handedness advantage against Griffin Canning today. Lars Nootbaar will benefit from the home field advantage today, which ought to improve all of his stats.
The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Brett Phillips will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Jack Flaherty in today's game. Brett Phillips has had some very poor luck with his batting average since the start of last season; his .139 BA is a good deal lower than his .166 Expected Batting Average (based on THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data). Being one of the highest in Major League Baseball, Brett Phillips's launch angle of metric1°, a dependable metric to assess a hitter's capacity to elevate the ball for power, places him at the 95th percentile. Brett Phillips is very fast, grading out in the 90th percentile in Sprint Speed at 28.85 ft/sec since the start of last season.
The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Dylan Carlson will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's game, which should bolster all of his stats. Improvement can be seen in Dylan Carlson's capacity to hit the ball within the BABIP-optimizing launch angle range of -4° to 26°, increasing from 40.7% to 46% between last season and this year.
THE BAT X projections rank Mike Trout as the 6th-best batter in the game. Mike Trout is projected to bat 2nd on the lineup card today. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Mike Trout hits a high percentage of his flyballs to center field (38.6% — 83rd percentile) and is fortunate to face MLB's 7th-shallowest CF fences in today's game. In the last two weeks' worth of games, Mike Trout has shown considerable progress with his Barrel% by elevating it from his seasonal rate of 17.1% to 26.5%.
The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Brandon Drury has seen a notable improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs of late; just compare his 97-mph average in the past 14 days to his seasonal mark of 90.9-mph. Compared to last year, Brandon Drury has improved his ability to hit the ball at a launch angle ideal for BABIP optimization, increasing his percentage from 38.8% to 48.5% this season. Over the past two weeks, Brandon Drury's capability of hitting the ball at an ideal launch angle for a BABIP (ranging between -4° and 26°) has elevated to 62.1%, whereas it was 48.5% earlier in the season.
THE BAT X projections rank Paul Goldschmidt as the 10th-best hitter in the majors. Paul Goldschmidt is projected to bat 2nd in the batting order in this matchup. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Paul Goldschmidt will have the benefit of the home field advantage today, which figures to bolster all of his stats. Comparing his current average of 90.8 mph to last year's average of 95.2 mph, there has been a significant boost in Paul Goldschmidt's exit velocity this season.
THE BAT X projections rank Shohei Ohtani as the 7th-best hitter in Major League Baseball. Shohei Ohtani is projected to bat 2nd in the lineup in this game. According to THE BAT projection system, Busch Stadium ranks as the 23st venue among the league venues for home runs. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Shohei Ohtani will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Jack Flaherty today.
As it relates to his batting average skill, Tommy Edman is ranked in the 87th percentile by THE BAT X projects. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Tommy Edman will possess the home field advantage in today's game, which should bolster all of his stats.
In terms of his overall offensive capability, Nolan Gorman ranks in the 81st percentile according to THE BAT X's projects. Nolan Gorman is penciled in 3rd on the lineup card in this matchup. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Nolan Gorman will have the handedness advantage over Griffin Canning in today's matchup. Nolan Gorman will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today's game, which should improve all of his stats.
THE BAT X projects Willson Contreras in the 96th percentile when it comes to his overall offensive skill. Willson Contreras is penciled in 5th in the lineup today. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Willson Contreras will benefit from the home field advantage today, which figures to boost all of his stats. The percentage of Willson Contreras's ability to hit the ball at an optimal launch angle for home runs (between -4° and 26°) has increased from 14.3% to 24.3% between last season and this season.
The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Luis Rengifo hits a lot of his flyballs to center field (39.5% — 94th percentile) and sets up very well considering he'll be hitting out towards the league's 7th-shallowest CF fences today. Luis Rengifo has experienced some negative variance in regards to his wOBA this year; his .283 figure is a fair amount lower than his .313 Expected wOBA (based on THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data).
Nolan Arenado is penciled in 4th in the lineup in this game. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Nolan Arenado will benefit from the home field advantage today, which should improve all of his stats. Nolan Arenado has compiled a .361 wOBA (the best measure of overall offense) since the start of last season, ranking in the 93rd percentile. With a 1.72 K/BB rate, Nolan Arenado has demonstrated impressive plate discipline since the start of last season, placing him in the 89th percentile.
THE BAT X projects Taylor Ward in the 94th percentile as it relates to his overall offensive ability. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Taylor Ward hits many of his flyballs to center field (39.5% — 94th percentile) and is fortunate to face baseball's 7th-shallowest CF fences in today's game. Despite THE BAT X estimating his true talent level to be .366, Taylor Ward has had a stroke of misfortune this year, only putting up a .302 wOBA, resulting in a deviation of .064. Statcast data interpreted by THE BAT X shows Taylor Ward ranking in the 93rd percentile with a .360 Expected wOBA (xwOBA) for since the start of last season.
Brendan Donovan's batting average ability is estimated to be in the 84th percentile by THE BAT X projects. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Brendan Donovan will hold the platoon advantage over Griffin Canning in today's matchup. Brendan Donovan will have the benefit of the home field advantage today, which should improve all of his stats. Comparing his seasonal 87.5-mph average to his 97.2-mph average in the past week's games, Brendan Donovan's exit velocity has significantly gaind in recent times.
Hunter Renfroe is projected to bat 3rd on the lineup card in this game. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Hunter Renfroe has compiled a .335 wOBA (the best measure of overall offense) since the start of last season, checking in at the 76th percentile.
Assessing his overall offensive capability, Anthony Rendon scores in the 88th percentile in THE BAT X projects. Anthony Rendon is projected to bat 4th on the lineup card in this game. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. His exit velocity has greatly increased this season, evident by his current 89.3-mph average compared to his 91.4-mph EV from the previous year, as demonstrated by Anthony Rendon. His seasonal angle has been 15.6° but Anthony Rendon has recently recorded a launch angle of 20.5° in the last week's worth of games, which is notably higher.
When evaluating his BABIP ability, Zach Neto ranks in the 84th percentile within THE BAT X projects. Zach Neto has primarily hit in the back-half of the batting order this season (65% of the time), but he is projected to hit 1st on the lineup card today. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. There has been a significant increase in Zach Neto's launch angle, which was at 23.4° over the past week compared to his seasonal mark of 12.6°.
When estimating his batting average talent, Alec Burleson is ranked in the 76th percentile by THE BAT X projects. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Alec Burleson will hold the platoon advantage against Griffin Canning in today's matchup. The Los Angeles Angels outfield defense projects as the 2nd-worst on the slate today. Alec Burleson will hold the home field advantage in today's matchup, which ought to improve all of his stats.
Estimating Gio Urshela's batting average talent, THE BAT X projects him in the 90th percentile. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Gio Urshela has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity on flyballs recently; just compare his 98.8-mph average in the past week's worth of games to his seasonal EV of 89.3-mph. Despite THE BAT X estimating his true talent level to be .325, Gio Urshela has had a stroke of misfortune this year, only putting up a .281 wOBA, resulting in a disparity of .044. Gio Urshela has posted a .278 Expected Batting Average since the start of last season, grading out in the 85th percentile (according to THE BAT X's interpretation of Statcast data).
Jake Lamb has primarily hit in the back-half of the lineup this season (75% of the time), but he is projected to bat 5th on the lineup card in this matchup. The weatherman calls for the 5th-best hitting weather of all games today, as it relates to temperature and humidity. Jake Lamb will have the handedness advantage against Jack Flaherty in today's matchup. Jake Lamb hits many of his flyballs to center field (38.3% — 77th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting towards the game's 7th-shallowest CF fences in today's game. Jake Lamb's 94.2-mph exit velocity on flyballs (an advanced standard to study power) is in the 80th percentile since the start of last season.
