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Hard Hitters: The 2018 AL East Exit Velocity Champions

By Josh Ejnes

BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 28: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees hits a single during the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on September 28, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 28: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees hits a single during the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on September 28, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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AL East
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 08: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees hits a single against Nathan Eovaldi #17 of the Boston Red Sox during the second inning in Game Three of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 08, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Modern baseball fans measure things like launch angle and exit velocity to review their favorite hitters. Who were the best in generating exit velocity in the AL East?

Exit velocity is one of the new baseball metrics that can help bridge the gap between sabermetrics skeptics and believers; everyone loves when players hit the ball hard. In 2018, these guys in the AL East hit the ball the hardest.

Giancarlo Stanton is terrifying, especially if you’re a baseball.

On August 19 of this year Stanton absolutely annihilated a pitch from Texas Rangers rookie Ariel Jurado, sending the ball sailing out of the park at an exit velocity of 121.7 MPH. It was the hardest hit ball of the year, and the second hardest hit ball of the Statcast era, trailing only a 122.2 MPH single from 2017 that was also hit by Stanton.

It’s always been common knowledge that hitting the ball hard is cool, but tracking exit velocity has shown us that it’s also very good. High exit velocity shows that a hitter is making quality contact, and adds a new dimension to the slash lines and counting stats that we already know and love. For example, a ball put into play at an exit velocity of 110 MPH that is caught for an out it tells a different story than a ball caught in the air that had an exit velocity of 90 MPH, so Statcast has been an integral tool in evaluating players beyond the box score.

The story of baseball in 2018 was one of home runs, strikeouts and walks. This trend, for better or for worse, is probably a result of Statcast and an increased focus on exit velocity and launch angle. Some people don’t like this evolution of the game, but it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.

So, we know that exit velocity is becoming more prevalent in both front offices in baseball conversation, but who are the guys that are actually hitting the ball the hardest? Is there a correlation between exit velocity and performance? Let’s take a look at the batter on each team in the AL East with the highest average exit velocity to get a picture of what kind of players excel in this area, and what it means for them and their teams.

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