ABSTRACT
The FanGraphs website displays a large number of measures for baseball hitters and pitchers. This chapter explores insights from the Plate Discipline table. The notion of plate discipline also has a meaning for pitchers. The first pitch strike rate and the swing and miss rate provide a reasonable prediction at a pitcher's wins above replacement (WAR) measure for a baseball season. The chapter explores the swing and contact rates for all 'qualifying' players in the 2016 season. It is generally believed that batters with good plate discipline tend to draw more walks. Several interesting statistics presented in the FanGraphs plate discipline section are the proportion of first pitches that are strikes and the proportion of swinging strikes. A regression model explains the variability in the pitcher WAR values based on the two proportion measures. Players have varying tendencies to swing, and one have seen that swing rates, especially on balls outside of the zone, can explain batters' tendencies to walk.
