Table 1 below shows the ground ball BAAs for all MLB pitchers allowing at least 400 ground balls from 2010-2012. The leader was Rockies right hander Jhoulys Chacin at .164. Chacin was also a fairly prolific ground ball pitcher with a 50% ground ball rate on batted balls. Given that Chacin plays half his games in Coors Field, a power hitter's paradise, his ability to gets outs on ground balls was certainly advantageous. Interestingly, the second pitcher on the list, Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays at .196, was much more of a fly ball pitcher (38% ground ball percentage).
Table 1: Batting Average Against on Ground Balls, 2010-2012
Pitcher
|
GB
|
H
|
BAA
|
Jhoulys
Chacin
|
590
|
97
|
.164
|
Jeremy
Hellickson
|
480
|
94
|
.196
|
Ricky
Romero
|
1,004
|
198
|
.197
|
Brad
Bergesen
|
486
|
97
|
.200
|
Kyle
Kendrick
|
678
|
136
|
.201
|
Shaun
Marcum
|
591
|
119
|
.201
|
Henderson
Alvarez
|
498
|
104
|
.209
|
Trevor
Cahill
|
1,074
|
225
|
.209
|
Tim
Hudson
|
1,140
|
240
|
.211
|
Kyle
Lohse
|
683
|
144
|
.211
|
Tim
Stauffer
|
444
|
94
|
.212
|
Justin
Verlander
|
811
|
172
|
.212
|
Clay
Buchholz
|
686
|
146
|
.213
|
Jered Weaver
|
657
|
140
|
.213
|
Mike
Leake
|
775
|
167
|
.215
|
The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.
Some pitchers benefited from better infield defense than others with team ground ball BAAs ranging from .221 for the Blue Jays to .258 for the Tigers. Of course, that is not all defense. It could be that some staffs allow harder hit ground balls than others. Over three years though, I would guess that it would even out enough to suggest something about team defense. I attempted to adjust for differences in infield defense by calculating the ground ball BAA of other pitchers on the same staff. For example, Chacin had a .180 BAA in 2010 compared to .230 for other Colorado pitchers. So, his BAA was 22% better than the average Rockie pitcher that year giving him a BAA+ of 122.
Chacin's numbers in 2011 and 2012 were 143 and 121 respectively and the weighted average of all three years was 133. Thus, he was 33% better at avoiding hits on ground balls than the average Colorado pitcher. Table 2 below shows that this was also the top BAA+ on ground balls in the majors. The worst pitcher at preventing hits on ground balls was Wade Davis of the Rays at 82 (18% worse than average).
Table 2: Adjusted Batting Average Against on Ground Balls, 2010-2012
Pitcher
|
GB
|
H
|
BAA
|
BAA+
|
Jhoulys
Chacin
|
590
|
97
|
.164
|
133
|
Brad
Bergesen
|
486
|
97
|
.200
|
121
|
Justin
Verlander
|
811
|
172
|
.212
|
120
|
Kyle
Kendrick
|
678
|
136
|
.201
|
118
|
Jeremy
Hellickson
|
480
|
94
|
.196
|
117
|
Luke
Hochevar
|
728
|
161
|
.221
|
116
|
Shaun
Marcum
|
591
|
119
|
.201
|
114
|
R.A.
Dickey
|
939
|
203
|
.216
|
113
|
Lucas
Harrell
|
426
|
97
|
.228
|
113
|
Ricky
Romero
|
1,004
|
198
|
.197
|
113
|
Kyle
Lohse
|
683
|
144
|
.211
|
112
|
Trevor
Cahill
|
1,074
|
225
|
.209
|
112
|
Tim
Hudson
|
1,140
|
240
|
.211
|
112
|
Mike Leake
|
775
|
167
|
.215
|
112
|
Jeremy
Guthrie
|
823
|
188
|
.228
|
112
|
The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.
Looking at Tigers pitchers, Verlander was only 12th on BAA (.212), but moved up to third on BAA+ (120) because he was so much better at preventing hits on grounders than other Tigers pitchers. Fister was similarly good for the Tigers in 2011-2012, but falls back to 110 when including his time with the Mariners. Other Tigers pitchers included Rick Porcello (98), Anibal Sanchez (94) and Max Scherzer (85).
I put all the numbers for all MLB pitchers in 2010-2012 into a Google spreadsheet.
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