Offensively, the Royals overall chase rate was actually better than you might realize at 28.8 percent with league average at 28.1 percent. But it was still 11th-highest in baseball. I feel like I’ve written more about the fact that Royals pitching doesn’t get chase, so this is one I’ve probably written before, but they had the seventh-lowest chase rate among pitching staffs. I’m using the Statcast O-swing% numbers that can be found on Fangraphs, if you’re following along at home. It’s simply the percentage of pitches outside the zone that a hitter swings at, for those who aren’t aware.
Obviously, chase rate isn’t everything. The Royals still had the sixth-best ERA in all of baseball. But they also had the eighth-lowest strikeout rate. And the reality is that a ball in play can be a hit. A strikeout is never a hit. It’s still important to throw strikes, but one thing the Royals say a lot that resonates with me is that the pitcher needs to force the hitter into a decision. Sometimes that means getting them to swing at a pitch they shouldn’t. But even though the Royals threw the eighth-most pitches in the strike zone by percentage, they still threw it out of the zone 48.5 percent of the time. There are opportunities to get the opponent to chase.
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