Christian Villanueva Spray Chart MLB Stats & Career Totals

There is one pitch he punishes whenever he sees it

Villanueva does his damage against offspeed pitches: a 1.186 OPS against them, against .508 on breaking balls.

31 plate appearances ending on offspeed pitches, 128 on breaking balls.

He hits lefties and righties about the same

Villanueva puts up a .574 OPS against right-handers and 1.118 against left-handers.

259 plate appearances against right-handers, 125 against left-handers.

There is one situation he is at his most dangerous in

Villanueva is at his best against left-handers, with the bases empty, on fastballs: a 1.342 OPS there against .750 overall.

54 plate appearances in that situation.

His power holds up against both hands

The power is one-sided: Villanueva slugs .319 against right-handers and .726 against left-handers.

259 plate appearances against right-handers, 125 against left-handers.

There is one situation he simply cannot handle

Villanueva is at his worst with a runner in scoring position, on breaking balls: a .202 OPS there against .750 overall.

26 plate appearances in that situation.

One pitch is where all his power comes from

Villanueva slugs .767 against offspeed pitches and .297 against breaking balls.

31 plate appearances ending on offspeed pitches.

His home runs almost all go to the same part of the park

15 of Villanueva's 20 located home runs have gone to left field, the longest of them 434 feet.

20 tracked home runs in 2018.

His contact is about the same with runners on

26.2% of Villanueva's contact with a runner in scoring position is hit hard, against 36.6% of it with the bases empty.

75 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, 309 with the bases empty.

He squares the ball up as well as almost anyone

10.2% of Villanueva's batted balls are barrelled, the batted-ball class that turns into extra bases more often than not. 82nd percentile.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 82nd percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 119th in MLB.

This is the kind of hitter he is, in one line

Villanueva trades contact for damage: top-end barrel rate, bottom-end strikeout rate: 82nd percentile barrel rate, 34th percentile strikeout rate.

384 plate appearances in 2018. both percentiles among qualified hitters in 2018.

There is real damage in his bat

Villanueva is slugging .450, 79th percentile in the league.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 79th percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 133rd in MLB.

He hits about the same with runners on as without

With a runner in scoring position Villanueva has an OPS of .616; with the bases empty it is .782.

75 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, 309 with the bases empty.

The shape of his contact says what kind of hitter he is

Villanueva averages 17.1 degrees off the bat: 37.9% of his contact is in the air and 36.9% of it is on the ground.

206 batted balls with a tracked launch angle.

He strikes out about the same against both hands

Villanueva strikes out in 25.1% of his trips against right-handers and 31.2% of them against left-handers.

259 plate appearances against right-handers, 125 against left-handers.

His walks do not change much with runners on

Villanueva walks in 2.7% of his plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, against 6.8% with the bases empty.

75 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, 309 with the bases empty.

He has been getting hits he has not really earned

Villanueva's batting average is .236 but the quality of his contact projects .216, a gap of .020 he is currently outrunning.

384 plate appearances in 2018.

One of the more productive bats in the league

Villanueva's OPS+ of 105 puts him 69th percentile among hitters this season, park and league adjusted.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 69th percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 200th in MLB.

Everything that leaves the yard leaves to his pull side

15 of Villanueva's 20 home runs have gone to his pull side and 1 of them the other way.

20 tracked home runs in 2018.

He gets the ball in the air at the angle that hurts

Villanueva finds the launch angles that produce hits on 40.5% of his contact, 71st percentile.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 71st percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 188th in MLB.

The strikeouts are the thing holding his season back

Villanueva strikes out in 27.1% of his trips, 34th percentile.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 34th percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 425th in MLB.

He is not hitting the ball with any authority this season

Villanueva's quality of contact only supports a .216 expected average, 39th percentile in the league.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 39th percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 392nd in MLB.

His fly balls travel about as far as anyone's

Villanueva's fly balls travel 285 feet on average, and his longest of the season went 434.

98 tracked balls hit at 20 degrees or more.

He almost never walks, which limits how he helps

Villanueva walks in only 6% of his plate appearances, 36th percentile.

384 plate appearances in 2018. 36th percentile among qualified hitters in 2018, 410th in MLB.

There is one part of the field he lives in

Villanueva hits it hardest to his pull side: 88.3 mph on average there, against 85.0 the other way.

95 batted balls to his pull side, 33 the other way.

Which hand is pitching changes where he hits the ball

Villanueva pulls 40.1% of what he puts in play against right-handers and 50.7% of it against left-handers.

167 batted balls against right-handers, 71 against left-handers.

Christian Villanueva

Contextual Splits

Crunching the Numbers