The fantasy baseball ranking season is in full swing. For me, that typically starts with searching advanced stats leaderboards. Advanced statistics are often more predictive than traditional box score statistics. Thus, they’re an excellent jumping-off point. This series will dive into a variety of my favorite advanced metrics. However, I must caution that no statistic in isolation is the secret sauce for unearthing a hidden gem or burgeoning stud. Instead, they are a piece of the puzzle and best viewed through that lens, using other statistics in conjunction with them to formulate a well-rounded opinion of the fantasy value of players.
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Infield Fly Ball Percentage (IFFB%)
Infield fly ball percentage (IFFB%) isn’t a calculation of all balls put in play. Instead, it’s a measure of infield fly balls divided by only fly balls. Therefore, a high IFFB% isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison to a high GB%, FB%, or LD%. Nevertheless, infield fly balls are basically a freebie out for the defense.
So, the leaders below feature the lowest IFFB%. Sadly, FanGraphs doesn’t have an average listed for IFFB% on their player pages. Still, we can add some context by looking at the 132 qualified hitters. The highest IFFB% in 2021 was 17.9%, the median was 9.0%, and the lowest was 1.1%.
2021 Qualified Hitters Infield Fly Ball Percentage Leaders
Tim Anderson (SS - CWS) hit the lowest percentage of infield fly balls among qualified hitters in 2021. The athletic shortstop wasn't a one-year wonder, either. From 2018 through 2020, he had a 4.1 IFFB%. So, he's likely to regress. Still, his IFFB% isn't likely to explode in 2022.
Seven other hitters from the table above had an IFFB% below 5.0% from 2018 through 2020, including Yordan Alvarez (OF - HOU) (1.2%, although he debuted in 2019), Freddie Freeman (1B - FA) (2.9%), Raimel Tapia (OF - COR) (3.2%), Aaron Judge (OF - NYY) (3.5%), Myles Straw (CF - CLE) (3.8%), Shohei Ohtani (SP/DH - LAA) (4.0%), and Josh Rojas (UTL - AZ) (4.3%, after debuting in 2019).
Conversely, seven players had an IFFB% above 7.0% from 2018 through 2020 -- unless they debuted in 2019. The seven players in question were Avisail Garcia (OF - MIL) (7.1%), Michael A. Taylor (CF - KC) (7.1%), Cesar Hernandez (2B - WSH) (7.9%), Nathaniel Lowe (1B - TEX) (8.5%, debuted in 2019), Willy Adames (SS - MIL) (8.7%), Kyle Tucker (OF - HOU) (9.3%), and Jose Abreu (1B - CWS) (10.8%).
Despite the less flattering marks before 2021 for Adames and Tucker, I'm a big fan of both in 2022. Tucker's pre-2021 IFFB% is vastly inflated by a 22.2 IFFB% when he skied four infield fly balls on only 18 fly balls in his 2018 debut. Since then, he's hit only 14 infield fly balls on 276 fly balls, good for a 5.1 IFFB%. Meanwhile, Adames' bat took off after an in-season trade to the Brewers. He reduced his launch angle and ripped the cover off the ball. Therefore, I'm weighing his 2021 IFFB% more heavily than before last year, accounting for the changes with the Beer Makers.
Finally, astute baseball fans might be shocked by the absence of Joey Votto (1B - CIN) from last year's IFFB% leaderboard. The veteran first baseman notoriously has avoided popups throughout his excellent career. However, he was just outside the top-20 last year, ranking 23rd with a 5.9 IFFB%. And, from 2018 through 2020, he had an IFFB% of only 1.2%. So, Votto is worthy of mentioning in this space since he fits the spirit of this piece.
Noteworthy Non-Qualified Hitters in 2021
Truthfully, I'm not overly excited about any of the players in the above table. Still, Luis Arraez (UTL - MIN) should be a valuable source for batting average. In addition to avoiding infield fly balls (2.7 IFFB% since reaching The Show in 2019), Arraez also has had a 27.8 LD% and only a 9.1 K%. The utility player has brilliantly blended a high contact approach with line drives and a lack of popups.
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers CStr%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers CSW%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers O-Swing%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers GB%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers SwStr%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers Soft%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers IFFB%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers Z-Contact%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Starting Pitchers BABIP
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters BB/K
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters FB/LD Exit Velocity
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters Barrel%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters Z-Contact%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters Z-Swing%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters FB%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters SwStr%
- Advanced Stats Leaderboard: Hitters O-Swing%
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
