Gage Workman: Statcast edition

We are lucky to have some statcast data available for some of the AFL games. This will be a series touching on all the Tigers who participated in the AFL and what their data showed us. First up is Gage Workman.

Gage Workman
2022 AFL season stats: 61 PA, .193/.230/.386, 2 HRs, 3BB:24K, .616 OPS, average age with rest of league

Gage Workman was the same hitter in the AFL as he was in AA this season. The 39.3% K% and 4.9% BB% are right on par with what he posted this past season. His HR/PA is slightly higher, and his slash line is slightly below. Over the course of 500 PA they would likely even themselves out. But what can we see from his Statcast data and should we get excited?

Batted Ball

In my investigation, I was pleased with some of his batted ball data. It’s a very small sample size (15 BIP), but here’s a breakdown:

GB: 7 (46.7%)
LD: 3 (20.0%)
FB: 5 (33.3%)

And let’s look at how those 15 balls looked as far as hits and outs are concerned:

We would certainly prefer to see more dots in the hits plot. He is spreading the ball around and using all the fields while maintaining a good flyball rate. Here’s a breakdown of his exit velocity, launch angle, and distance (more red is further hit ball):

Of the four Tigers hitters to take part in the AFL, his average 17.7° launch angle is the second highest. With that, the 80.6 MPH average exit velocity leaves fans wanting much more.

Strikeouts

In the end, however, his average EV is not his biggest problem. Of his 28 PA that can be seen from Statcast data, he had nearly as many strikeouts swinging (9) as he did his balls in play (15).

Of his 9 Ks swinging, 4 appear to be out of the strike zone, some far out of the strike zone. 4 of them also were when facing sliders. Again, strikeouts seem to follow him. You simply cannot strikeout 40% of the time and expect to have a big league career without a really, really special tool. And in AA/AFL no less. Even worse yet is that the walks aren’t really following him either. He posted only a 4.9% BB% in the AFL, which is a dip from his 6.6% in AA this past season.

Defense

But that’s enough of his bat. Despite defense being slightly harder to gauge based on the Statcast data (there wasn’t the typical OAA data available), I was able to gather the spots where ball landed that also had Workman involved in a play:

There is one outlier here: a wild play that involved teammate Parker Meadows throwing in and catching a runner in a rundown. He did play at 2B, SS, and 3B, so he was able to get involved in plays all over the infield.

Final thoughts

Gage has approach issue, which isn’t news to anyone who has watched him during his time in the Tigers minor league system. He swings and misses quite a bit, and at times it is far outside. To add to that he’s had 11 PA that ended with the ball in the heart of the zone. That produced 0 hits and 2 Ks. In 2022, his average launch angle matches Hunter Renfroe — which on the surface seems good — but his average exit velocity most closely matches that of 35 year old Alcides Escobar. To his credit, he does have the ability to spread the ball in all the fields though when he does make contact and has some defensive flexibility. But until his approach is fixed, he likely will remain where he is.