Way back all of 18 days ago I took a look at Brandon Inge’s offensive contributions. Based on what he’d done so far in 2006, the conclusion was Inge had become focused on the flyball. His line drive percentage was only 10.8%, or nearly half of what a decent hitter should have. The result was an improved home run total, but it came at the expense of his batting average and on base percentage. But all that looks to be changing now.
Since writing that Inge has hit 326/396/543. In that time his line drive percentage has been 31.6% raising his season total to 14%.
In looking at his game-by-game log you can see that his hot streak really started in full effect with the resumption of play after the All Star Break. Over that time he’s hitting 406/474/594 and the most impressive aspect may be that he only fanned 4 times during the 10 game homestand. Not surprisingly his improved numbers come as he hit 41% of his balls in play for line drives.
Now it’s unreasonable to expect Inge to continue getting on base in nearly half of his plate appearances, but if he can carry at least some of this performance into the rest of the season the Tigers offense definitely stands to benefit. And with his first inning opposite field homer tonight, the shift in venue hasn’t seemed to effect him yet.
I truly hope he can keep it up. Whenever he comes to the plate, my family always calls it an “Inge Binge!” I always use his homers and defense this year to defend him, but it’s been great to see that average go up after the break.
Jinx. He makes a boneheaded play and gets picked off. Dumb play by Inge.
Good hitters always tend to have a higher line drive % than league-average. 41% is excessive and will come down, but this is one instance where sabermetrics confirm what the eye sees – that Inge has changed his hitting approach for the better.
I read on MLB.com that Leyland likes Inge a lot. He has him working on his hitting so he will hit more base hits, but keep his power. A word of caution, though. Leyland says it will take some time.
Did anyone else notice Brandon Inge walk by naked (twice) during Ryan Field’s post game locker room interview with Curtis Granderson? Could only see side of butt cheeks, but funny nonetheless. The guys in the background were cracking up (no pun intended).
Dude’s made some adjustments, thats for sure. Thank God.