Todays Series Game 2 Matchup Details

Player match stat positives for Kansas City at Boston Series Game 2 Matchup Today

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Ceddanne Rafaela in the 81st percentile when assessing his BABIP skill.

Fenway Park projects as the #4 venue in MLB for run-scoring, via the leading projection system (THE BAT).

The shallowest LF dimensions in Major League Baseball are found in Fenway Park.

The wind projects to be blowing out to CF at 10.4-mph in this contest, the 2nd-best of the day for batters.

Home field advantage typically boosts hitter metrics in all categories, and Ceddanne Rafaela will hold that advantage today.

Fenway Park profiles as the #6 field in the majors for right-handed base hits, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT).

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jarren Duran in the 89th percentile when estimating his overall offensive ability.

Jarren Duran is projected to hit 1st in the batting order in today’s game.

Hitting from the opposite that Seth Lugo throws from, Jarren Duran will have an advantage today.

Jarren Duran has a 95th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (38.5%) and will have a big advantage hitting them out towards baseball’s shallowest LF fences in today’s matchup.

Rafael Devers projects as the 17th-best batter in baseball, per the leading projection system (THE BAT X).

Rafael Devers is projected to hit 4th in the batting order today.

Fenway Park has the 3rd-shallowest right field dimensions in Major League Baseball.

When estimating his overall offensive skill, Vinnie Pasquantino ranks in the 90th percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).

Vinnie Pasquantino is projected to hit 3rd in the lineup today.

Batting from the opposite that Kutter Crawford throws from, Vinnie Pasquantino will have an edge in today’s matchup.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Wilyer Abreu in the 84th percentile as it relates to his home run skill.

Wilyer Abreu will have the handedness advantage against Seth Lugo in today’s game.

Wilyer Abreu hits a lot of his flyballs to center field (38.1% — 78th percentile) and will have a big advantage facing the league’s 3rd-shallowest CF fences in today’s matchup.

The leading projection system (THE BAT) projects Seth Lugo in the 77th percentile as it relates to his overall pitching talent level.

Seth Lugo has averaged 95.3 adjusted pitches per start this year, checking in at the 91st percentile.

It may be wise to expect negative regression for the Boston Red Sox offense in the future, considering that the leading projection system (THE BAT X) views them as the 5th-luckiest offense in the game this year.

It is anticipated that we will see a Pitchers Umpire (Adam Hamari) in charge of the strike zone today.

Masataka Yoshida’s batting average skill is projected to be in the 92nd percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).

Masataka Yoshida is projected to hit 5th on the lineup card today.

Fenway Park ranks as the #6 venue in baseball for left-handed BABIP, per the leading projection system (THE BAT).

Hitting from the opposite that Seth Lugo throws from, Masataka Yoshida will have the upper hand in today’s game.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Bobby Witt Jr. as the 7th-best batter in baseball when estimating his batting average talent.

Bobby Witt Jr. is projected to hit 2nd on the lineup card today.

Bobby Witt Jr. has a 90th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (36.6%) and will have a big advantage hitting them out towards baseball’s 3rd-shallowest RF fences in today’s game.

Connor Wong is projected to bat 5th in the batting order in today’s game.

Among all major league stadiums, Fenway Park’s CF fences are the 3rd-shallowest.

Humid weather has a small yet noteworthy link with more offense (and fewer strikeouts), and the weather report forecasts the 2nd-highest humidity of all games today at 77%.

Home field advantage generally improves hitter stats across the board, and Connor Wong will hold that advantage in today’s matchup.

Compared to his seasonal average of 13.5°, Connor Wong has significantly improved his launch angle lately, posting a 24.5° figure over the past week.

Tyler O’Neill projects as the 18th-best home run batter in baseball, per the leading projection system (THE BAT X).

Tyler O’Neill is penciled in 3rd on the lineup card in today’s game.

Tyler O’Neill pulls a lot of his flyballs (33.8% — 79th percentile) and sets up very well considering he’ll be hitting them towards baseball’s shallowest LF fences in today’s game.

Out of all the teams today, the 5th-weakest infield defense belongs to the Boston Red Sox.

Kutter Crawford has gone to his curveball 6.4% less often this year (5.7%) than he did last year (12.1%).

When it comes to his home run skill, MJ Melendez ranks in the 87th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).

Hitting from the opposite that Kutter Crawford throws from, MJ Melendez will have an advantage in today’s game.

MJ Melendez pulls many of his flyballs (35.2% — 87th percentile) and sets up very well considering he’ll be hitting them towards baseball’s 3rd-shallowest RF fences in today’s matchup.

Compared to his seasonal average of 14.7°, MJ Melendez has significantly improved his launch angle recently, posting a 19° figure over the past two weeks.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Maikel Garcia in the 88th percentile when estimating his batting average ability.

Maikel Garcia has a 94th percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (38.3%) and is a great match for the park considering he’ll be hitting them out towards baseball’s 3rd-shallowest RF fences in today’s game.

Extreme flyball batters like Maikel Garcia tend to be more successful against extreme groundball pitchers like Kutter Crawford.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Jarren Duran as the 16th-best hitter in the game when estimating his BABIP talent.

Michael Massey is penciled in 5th on the lineup card today.

Michael Massey will hold the platoon advantage against Kutter Crawford in today’s matchup.

Michael Massey pulls a lot of his flyballs (37.9% — 96th percentile) and has the good fortune of hitting them towards the league’s 3rd-shallowest RF fences in today’s matchup.

Batting from the opposite that Seth Lugo throws from, Dominic Smith will have an edge in today’s matchup.

Dominic Smith hits a lot of his flyballs to center field (39.3% — 96th percentile) and is fortunate to face baseball’s 3rd-shallowest CF fences in today’s matchup.

Dominic Smith will have the benefit of the home field advantage in today’s matchup, which ought to boost all of his stats.

The Boston Red Sox have 3 batters in their projected lineup today with a high (i.e. over 27%) underlying K% (according to the leading projection system, THE BAT X) (Tyler O’Neill, David Hamilton, Wilyer Abreu).

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Salvador Perez in the 91st percentile when estimating his home run talent.

Salvador Perez is penciled in 4th in the batting order today.

Salvador Perez pulls many of his flyballs (36.6% — 93rd percentile) and sets up very well considering he’ll be hitting them towards MLB’s shallowest LF fences today.

Salvador Perez has seen a notable gain in his exit velocity on flyballs of late; just compare his 98.2-mph average in the past two weeks to his seasonal average of 94.8-mph.

David Hamilton has primarily hit in the back-half of the lineup this year (72% of the time), but he is penciled in 2nd in the lineup in this matchup.

David Hamilton will have the handedness advantage over Seth Lugo in today’s game.

As it relates to his overall offensive talent, MJ Melendez ranks in the 75th percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).

Tyler O’Neill will possess the home field advantage in today’s game, which figures to improve all of his stats.

Kyle Isbel will have the handedness advantage over Kutter Crawford today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Salvador Perez in the 82nd percentile when assessing his overall offensive talent.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), Bobby Witt Jr. ranks as the 14th-best batter in the league.

Bobby Witt Jr. has seen a substantial gain in his exit velocity this season; just compare his 92.7-mph average to last season’s 90.7-mph mark.

As it relates to his overall offensive talent, Masataka Yoshida ranks in the 82nd percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).

Masataka Yoshida has an 83rd percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (34.9%) and will have a big advantage hitting them out towards MLB’s shallowest LF fences today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Tyler O’Neill in the 91st percentile when estimating his overall offensive talent.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Wilyer Abreu in the 75th percentile when it comes to his overall offensive skill.

Maikel Garcia has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity lately; just compare his 93.6-mph average in the past week to his seasonal 90.8-mph average.

In the last 14 days, Maikel Garcia’s 23.5% rate of hitting balls at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) shows big improvement over his seasonal rate of 16.1%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Connor Wong in the 75th percentile when estimating his BABIP talent.

Home field advantage generally improves hitter stats across the board, and David Hamilton will hold that advantage in today’s game.

Michael Massey has been zeroed in on the ideal launch angle for home runs lately, striking balls between 23° and 34° 20% of the time in the last two weeks.

Home field advantage typically boosts hitter stats in all categories, and Wilyer Abreu will hold that advantage today.

Dominic Smith has made big strides with his Barrel% recently, improving his 8.7% seasonal rate to 17.4% in the past 14 days.

Over the last week, Ceddanne Rafaela’s Barrel% has experienced a surge, jumping from his seasonal rate of 7.9% up to 28.6%.

Ceddanne Rafaela has seen a notable increase in his exit velocity on flyballs recently; just compare his 98.3-mph average over the last 14 days to his seasonal figure of 93.9-mph.

When assessing his strikeout talent, the leading projection system (THE BAT) places Kutter Crawford in the 87th percentile among all starting pitchers in the majors.

Vinnie Pasquantino pulls many of his flyballs (36.4% — 93rd percentile) and will have a big advantage hitting them towards baseball’s 3rd-shallowest RF fences in today’s matchup.

Rafael Devers will hold the platoon advantage over Seth Lugo today.

Saturday Series Game 2 player match stat slumps with Royals vs Red Sox Matchup

Ceddanne Rafaela is projected to bat 8th in the batting order in this game.

Fenway Park has the 2nd-highest fence height (on average) in the league.

Batting from the same side that Seth Lugo throws from, Ceddanne Rafaela will have a tough matchup in today’s game.

Out of all the teams on the slate today, the 5th-best infield defense is that of the the Kansas City Royals.

Ceddanne Rafaela has been lucky in regards to with his wOBA this year; his .293 figure is significantly inflated relative to his .276 Expected wOBA, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s interpretation of Statcast data.

Built just 16 feet above sea level, Fenway Park has one of the lowest altitudes among all major league stadiums, which often leads to lower offensive output.

Jarren Duran’s ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has declined lately, falling from 14.9% on the season to 0% in the last 7 days.

Based on Statcast data, the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s version of Expected HR per 600 plate appearances (27.0) provides evidence that Rafael Devers has had positive variance on his side this year with his 36.1 actual HR/600.

Vinnie Pasquantino will be at a disadvantage playing as a visiting player today.

Posting a .247 BABIP this year, Vinnie Pasquantino grades out in the 12th percentile.

Wilyer Abreu has primarily hit in the top-half of the lineup this year (84% of the time), but he is projected to bat 6th in the batting order in this matchup.

As it relates to his batting average, Wilyer Abreu has been very fortunate this year. His .265 figure has been quite a bit higher than the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s version of Statcast-based Expected Batting Average (xBA) at .218.

According to the leading projection system (THE BAT), Salvador Perez (the Royals’s expected catcher today) grades out as a weak pitch framer.

The leading projection system (THE BAT) ranks Fenway Park as the 2nd-best venue in the league for BABIP.

The Boston Red Sox have 7 bats in the projected lineup that will have the benefit of the platoon advantage against Seth Lugo today.

Masataka Yoshida is an extreme groundball hitter and faces the weak infield defense of Kansas City (#28-worst of all teams today).

Masataka Yoshida has had positive variance on his side thus far when it comes to his batting average this year; his .271 figure is considerably higher than his .255 Expected Batting Average, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s interpretation of Statcast data.

Hitting from the same side that Kutter Crawford throws from, Bobby Witt Jr. will be in a tough position in today’s matchup.

Typically, batters like Bobby Witt Jr. who hit a lot of groundballs tend to perform worse when facing pitchers who also induce a lot of groundballs such as Kutter Crawford.

Playing on the road typically weakens batter stats in all categories due to the lack of home field advantage, which should be the case for Bobby Witt Jr. today.

Seth Lugo will hold the platoon advantage over Connor Wong in today’s game.

Connor Wong’s average exit velocity has dropped off this season; his 89.1-mph EV last season has lowered to 86.1-mph.

Connor Wong’s average exit velocity has decreased recently; his 86.1-mph seasonal figure has dropped off to 70.3-mph in the last 7 days.

Connor Wong has been lucky this year, compiling a .360 wOBA despite the leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimating his true talent level to be .300 — a .060 discrepancy.

Hitting from the same side that Seth Lugo throws from, Tyler O’Neill faces a tough challenge in today’s game.

Tyler O’Neill has been lucky in regards to his batting average this year; his .256 rate is considerably higher than his .219 Expected Batting Average, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s interpretation of Statcast data.

The leading projection system (THE BAT) forecasts Kutter Crawford in the 85th percentile when it comes to his overall pitching skills.

Reese McGuire, the Red Sox’s expected catcher in today’s game, projects as a good pitch framer according to the leading projection system (THE BAT).

Considering that groundball batters struggle against groundball pitchers, Kutter Crawford (41.3% GB% per the leading projection system, THE BAT) is well-situated today with 4 GB hitters in the opposing club’s projected offense.

MJ Melendez is penciled in 7th in the batting order in today’s game.

When starting against a righty hurler this year, MJ Melendez has been replaced by a pinch-hitter 19% of the time.

Extreme groundball bats like MJ Melendez are generally less successful against extreme groundball pitchers like Kutter Crawford.

Maikel Garcia is penciled in 8th in the lineup in this matchup, which would be a downgrade from his 96% rate of hitting in the top-half of the lineup this season.

Hitting from the same side that Kutter Crawford throws from, Maikel Garcia faces a tough challenge in today’s matchup.

Maikel Garcia will be at a disadvantage playing on the visting team in today’s game.

Taking into account both his underlying tendencies and the matchup, Kutter Crawford is projected to throw 85 pitches in today’s game by the leading projection system (THE BAT X) system, which is the 13th-least of all pitchers on the slate today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Michael Massey in the 21st percentile when assessing his BABIP ability.

Extreme flyball bats like Michael Massey generally hit worse against extreme flyball pitchers like Kutter Crawford.

Playing on the road typically diminishes batter stats across the board due to the lack of home field advantage, which should be the case for Michael Massey in today’s matchup.

Dominic Smith is penciled in 7th in the batting order in today’s game.

In the last week, Dominic Smith’s 0% rate of hitting balls at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has taken a nosedive compared to his seasonal rate of 18%.

The #8 venue in Major League Baseball for suppressing strikeouts, per the leading projection system (THE BAT), is Fenway Park.

Seth Lugo will be at a disadvantage playing on the road in today’s game.

Batting from the same side that Kutter Crawford throws from, Salvador Perez faces a tough challenge in today’s game.

Typically, bats like Salvador Perez who hit a lot of groundballs tend to be less successful when facing pitchers who also induce a lot of groundballs such as Kutter Crawford.

Salvador Perez will be at a disadvantage playing on the visting team today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects David Hamilton in the 21st percentile when estimating his overall offensive skill.

David Hamilton’s ability to hit the ball at a HR-maximizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has dropped off recently, going from 16.4% on the season to 0% in the past week’s worth of games.

David Hamilton has been cold of late, compiling a 0% Barrel% (a reliable metric to assess power) in the last two weeks.

MJ Melendez will be at a disadvantage playing as a visiting player today.

Tyler O’Neill has been very fortunate when it comes to with his wOBA this year; his .361 figure is significantly inflated relative to his .328 Expected wOBA, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s interpretation of Statcast data.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Kyle Isbel in the 24th percentile when it comes to his BABIP ability.

Kyle Isbel is penciled in 9th in the lineup in this matchup.

14% of the time that Kyle Isbel has started against a righty on the mound this year, he has been pinch hit for.

Playing on the road generally weakens hitter metrics across the board due to the lack of home field advantage, which ought to be the case for Kyle Isbel today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates Salvador Perez’s true offensive ability to be a .322, suggesting that he has had positive variance on his side this year given the .024 difference between that mark and his actual .346 wOBA.

Based on Statcast metrics, the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s version of Expected wOBA (.309) implies that Masataka Yoshida has had positive variance on his side this year with his .323 actual wOBA.

There has been a significant decline in Michael Massey’s launch angle from last year’s 19.6° to 14.1° this year.

When it comes to his home run skill, Maikel Garcia ranks in the 15th percentile according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X).

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates David Hamilton’s true offensive skill to be a .280, suggesting that he has experienced some positive variance this year given the .038 disparity between that mark and his actual .318 wOBA.

Based on Statcast metrics, the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s version of Expected wOBA (.305) provides evidence that Wilyer Abreu has been lucky this year with his .347 actual wOBA.

Maikel Garcia’s exit velocity on flyballs has fallen off this season; his 92.7-mph EV last season has lowered to 90-mph.

Dominic Smith has had positive variance on his side thus far when it comes to his batting average this year; his .221 figure is considerably higher than his .206 Expected Batting Average, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s interpretation of Statcast data.

Rafael Devers has experienced some positive variance in regards to with his wOBA this year; his .392 rate is a fair amount higher than his .347 Expected wOBA, based on the leading projection system (THE BAT X)’s interpretation of Statcast data.

Grading out in the 15th percentile, Dominic Smith has put up a .329 Slugging Percentage (SLG) this year.

Posting an 8.06 K/BB rate this year, Ceddanne Rafaela has displayed weak plate discipline, placing in the 2nd percentile.

Bobby Witt Jr.’s exit velocity on flyballs has fallen off recently; his 94.1-mph seasonal EV has dropped to 91-mph over the past week.

The Kansas City Royals (20.4 K% (according to the leading projection system, THE BAT X) are projected to have the 4th-least strikeout-heavy group of hitters of all teams on the slate today.

Vinnie Pasquantino’s launch angle lately (4.8° in the last 7 days) is significantly worse than his 15.7° seasonal mark.

Kyle Isbel’s exit velocity on flyballs has dropped off of late; his 91.5-mph seasonal figure has dropped to 88.6-mph in the past 14 days.