David Peralta’s great start to 2019: By the numbers

The Diamondbacks have had an up-and-down start to the 2019 season, but one group that has impressed so far is the offense.

Their bats had a bit of a cold streak over their past few games, but they still rank fifth in the entire league in runs scored through the first 16 games and fall within the top 10 in other meaningful offensive statistics such as batting average, home runs and OPS.

One big reason for this has been the play of left fielder David Peralta, who has gotten off to a very hot start and shown that his career year in 2018 was no fluke.

Here is David Peralta’ great first two weeks, by the numbers:

All stats prior to Monday’s action

25

Peralta has been a hitting machine to start the season, racking up 25 hits in the D-backs’ first 16 games. This ranks second in the whole league behind the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger, who has 28 hits in 17 games played.

.373

All of these hits have resulted in a stellar .373 batting average for Peralta, which is good for 12th in all of baseball. He’s in some good company at the top of that leaderboard, as the list of names just above him include Bellinger, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon.

9

Peralta hasn’t only been hitting singles, though, as his nine doubles puts him in a tie for first place in all of baseball with Ryon Healy of the Mariners.

He has also added two home runs on top of that, which puts him in a tie for seventh in the league in extra base hits.

40

Another leaderboard in which Peralta ranks within the top 10 is total bases, as his total of 40 has him tied for 10th in all of baseball. This is one more than reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich has in the same amount of games.

95

Peralta’s hits haven’t been cheap either, as he has hit 24 balls with an exit velocity of 95 miles per hour or more. This is good for ninth in the league and higher than players such as Aaron Judge, Josh Donaldson and Freddie Freeman.

23.2

Out of all the balls Peralta has made put in play this season, 23.2 percent of them have been line drives. This would be a new career high if it holds up across the whole season, and it shows just how good the swings Peralta is putting on the ball have been.

.419

One reason for Peralta’s success has been his ability to punish fastballs, as he has a .419 batting average against heaters so far this year. His willingness to jump on that pitch has been evident, as 18 of his 25 hits and six of his nine doubles have come against fastballs.