The batters who have made the least amount of weak contact per batted ball in play since Baseball Info Solutions started tracking Quality of Contact stats in 2002 are Ryan Howard, Aaron Judge… and Brandon Marsh.

[u/jorleeduf]

Oh. And Brandon Marsh is first place—by a pretty large margin too. Those three are the only three qualified hitters with a soft% below 10%.

Brandon Marsh is first at 8.2%.
Judge is second at 9.4%.
Howard is third at 9.7%.

[u/Mandalore777]

I don’t care how hard the contact is if it finds an open hole, which has been pretty darn good for Brandon marsh since June

[u/jorleeduf → u/Mandalore777]

It tends to find a hole. Only Ty Cobb has a higher career BABIP

[u/FunnyID → u/jorleeduf]

Both Marsh and Cobb are/were left-handed hitting centerfielders that were born in Georgia on December 18.

[u/fuccguppy → u/FunnyID]

You're telling me Marsh isn't even the best left handed hitting centerfielder born in Georgia on December 18th? Can't have shit

[u/turbosexophonicdlite → u/fuccguppy]

Shades of Musial and Griffey Jr.

[u/fuccguppy → u/turbosexophonicdlite]

This old ass sport has too many weird coincidences

[u/petardthegreat → u/[deleted]]

Tonight, you

[u/Skraxx]

Similarly, top-5 in career BABIP (Qualified, 1882-2025):

1- Tom McCreery (.390)

2- Ty Cobb (.378)

3- Willie Keeler (.375)

4- Tuck Turner (.375)

5- Brandon Marsh (.370)

[u/jorleeduf]

He strikes out a ton, but when he actually makes contact, he makes good contact. Unsurprisingly, he is also second place in all time leaders in BABIP for hitters with at least 1500 PA, behind Ty Cobb.

[u/_HGCenty → u/jorleeduf]

Can you imagine if this guy was in the same team as Ohtani and Trout? Oh boy that would be unstoppable...

[u/avengeds12345]

Angels legend Brandon Marsh

[u/droffowsneb]

Ya love to see it, Tom.

[u/Manymarbles]

Think of all the power hitters.

And the Marshman marshith

[u/h2g242]

Marsh has the second highest BABIP for a career … in between Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner.

[u/turbosexophonicdlite]

That's really shocking. Howard and judge are exactly the kind of people if have expected to see at the top. But Marsh? I never noticed how infrequently he has weak contact.

Though this can be an exercise in showing how misleading stats can be since he's exactly the kind of hitter that might benefit from having more soft contact because of his speed.

[u/sjphilsphan → u/turbosexophonicdlite]

He just needs to learn to lay off the high fastballs

[u/Skiesthelimit287]

wow, that's an amazing stat. Imagine if he could actually elevate the ball. Oh and not strike out 35% of the time for his career.

[u/Fuminggrain → u/Skiesthelimit287]

Marsh has always been good at elevating the ball

[u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1]

Imagine if the Phillies had kept Logan O’Hoppe

[u/2fishmanangry → u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1]

He's going through some growing pains but I still love that trade for the Angels. Philly fans haven't complained either.

[u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1 → u/2fishmanangry]

I am a Phillies fan and I complain about it weekly.

[u/[deleted] → u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1]

Marsh has registered a higher WAR every single season with the Phillies (including the 2022 when we traded for him and he played 40 games for us) then any Logan O'Hoppe season except 2024, (where Marsh still has 2 seasons better).

O'Hoppe's entire career so far (3.6 WAR) is almost matched by just Marsh's 2023 (3.4)

WAR isn't some end all be all stat, but you sit down and look at O'Hoppe, 30/30 teams would rather have what Marsh has been doing over O'Hoppe

You can complain all you want, but most of us aren't and that's cause we are correct and as of now clearly won that trade.

[u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1 → u/[deleted]]

A lot of us are

[u/2fishmanangry → u/[deleted]]

"30/30 teams would rather have what Marsh has been doing over O'Hoppe"

WAR-wise, sure. Team-wise, not necessarily. Over the last 34 years, our only 3-WAR season from a catcher was Napoli in 2009. Meanwhile, the Phillies have been spoiled by Realmuto and his nearly 40 WAR (3+ war in seven consecutive healthy seasons).

So personally, I'd rather have O'Hoppe because he might be able to lock us down behind the plate for quite a while and has "team captain" character. Also two years younger with an extra year of control. I haven't seen a single complaint about that trade on our fanbase's side, but we are happy for Marsh.

Also, Realmuto is a free agent going into his age-35 season. Your highest-ranked catching prospect is a 40-grade 25yo in AA. Depending on how things turn out, you may change your stance. You also might not.

[u/2fishmanangry → u/[deleted]]

Does that mean we're gonna be a winning team when O'Hoppe is 30 and our young core are all in their prime? Sign me up, chief

[u/2fishmanangry → u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1]

Interesting, noted.