Arizona Diamondbacks: Jean Segura is breaking out

Jean Segura is having a nice season so far for the Arizona Diamondbacks. How’s he doing it?

It’s safe to say that Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Jean Segura is having his best season in the majors. In 71 games, Segura is batting .307/.347/.437 with five home runs, 30 RBI, 16 doubles and four triples. He also has 92 base hits, and those 16 doubles match his total for last season. But after listing all those numbers, what really sticks out for Segura this season are his walks. He’s showing better discipline this season, especially compared to 2015 when he finished with 13 walks in 142 games.

If you look at Segura’s career numbers, you will see a similarity between his 2013 season and 2016’s numbers so far. Three years ago, Segura finished the year batting .294/.329/.423. That year he played in 146 games for the Milwaukee Brewers, and he hit 12 home runs, collected 46 RBI, walked 25 times, struck out 84 times and finished with 173 hits. He also made the National League All-Star team that year.

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According to Brooks Baseball, Segura performed the best against the sinker in 2013. He batted .336, hit 44 singles, and only struck out eight times against it. He struck out 30 times on the four seam fastball and 20 times on the slider. This year, Segura is, once again, having great success against the sinker (.389 BA), but he’s also hitting the curveball (.333) and change up (.333) hard as well.

Moreover, he’s doing a nice job against the slider (.290), and while his batting average against the four seamer (.266) isn’t as high as it is against those other pitches, nine of his 14 walks this year have been against the four seam fastball. He also has 13 strike outs on the four seamer and 12 on the slider.

Against the sinker, Segura swings 40 percent of the time, but he only whiffs four percent of the time. And his numbers on other pitches are similar in that he swings a lot, but doesn’t whiff a lot. His highest whiff percentage is 12.7 percent against the change, but he also swings at it 53 percent of the time he sees it, so he’s making a lot of contact.

Here’s his overall swing percentage chart:

Notice how much he swings and how many of his swings are in the zone. Although he does like to swing at that sinker which, obviously, is low in the zone or even below it.

Furthermore, what’s interesting when you look at Segura’s numbers is that pitchers will throw the sinker to Segura the most when he’s ahead in the count (33 percent) even though it’s the pitch he’s had the most success with thus far in 2016—especially against right-handers. He’s batting .400, slugging .625 and his BABIP is an astronomical .400 against righties. And as good as those numbers are, his BABIP against lefties is actually better at .457. So either the opposition is expecting Segura’s numbers against the sinker to level off or they’re not paying attention. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be throwing it as often as they do.

When you look at Segura’s spray chart, you will notice that he makes a lot of contact and that a lot of balls are falling for hits up the middle this season.

Overall, Segura’s always sprayed the ball all over the field and this season is no exception, but unfortunately for him, a lot of the balls that he has pulled to left have been ground ball outs. His pull percentage is 29.1, his center percentage is 35.7 and his opposite field percentage is 35.3. His career averages are 27.1, 41.1 and 31.8, respectively so he’s close to doing what he usually does.

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So why is Jean Segura successful this season? It’s because he’s making a lot of good contact with the ball. The question is, will he keep it up? Well, if his 2013 performance is any indication, it is certainly possible.

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