Splits matter.
Whether you’re playing in DFS games or season long, that little extra advantage can be had in the split game so it’s vital that you make yourself aware of those players that tilt in the positive, or negative, in certain situations. This article deals with those splits.
FIRST SECOND HALF SPLITS DON’T MATTER
Historical first and second half splits don’t really matter. The hell you say? Here’s why my statement should ring true.
First/second half splits are completely arbitrary data points to begin and end a discussion. What is different on July 5th from July 15th? The answer is nothing. This is the most frustrating thing I hear all the time. ‘This guy is a second half player...’ Is that true?
Let’s say a guy has an equal number of homers in the first and second half.
First half: 10, 8, 7, 10 = 35 total
Second half: 13, 4, 13, 5 = 35 total
In this instance he is the same performer, right? There are 35 homers in each half. However, which guy is more consistent? First half guy of course. Is he really the same half to half or not?
Another example. Assuming the exact same at-bat total, 250 for each half.
First half: .285, .295, .325, .295 = average of .300
Second half: .280, .375, .280, .280 = average of .304.
According to the overall numbers this guys is a “second half hitter.” In truth, every one of his first half efforts were better than all but one of his second half’s.
Simply, the splits here can be misleading. Do not buy into the first and second half thing at all.
HOME/AWAY
Some will suggest that home/road splits matter a little, others a lot. Of course, if you play your home games in Colorado or Arizona it matters a lot (make sure to check out our Ballpark Factors that talks about all the locations). However, not all home/away splits are equal. What if you faced Clayton Kershaw at home but then faced Brian Anderson on the road? That hitters road numbers would be better on the road, even if the home ballpark is a better place to hit merely because of the pitcher that batter is facing. Keep that in mind when you’re looking at the numbers below.
WHAT Is wOBA?
wOBA attempts to quantify the value of hits much the same way that OPS does. It "weights" the aspects of the offensive game in a way that is relative to the actual run value of the event (i.e. a homer is worth more than double the value of a single). In this respect wOBA is more accurate than OPS since OPS gives slightly more value for hitting for extra bases than it does for getting on base.
wOBA is figured out on the same scale as regular on-base percentage. That means if you understand the value assigned to OBP you will understand how to read wOBA. Here is a table from Rotographs to explain.
Rating | wOBA |
Excellent | 0.400 |
Great | 0.370 |
Above Average | 0.340 |
Average | 0.320 |
Below Average | 0.310 |
Poor | 0.300 |
Awful | 0.290 |
HOME – HITTERS
(Minimum 200 plate appearances)
Name | Team | PA | OBP | SLG | OPS | wOBA |
Rockies | 335 | 0.473 | 0.591 | 1.064 | 0.450 | |
Red Sox | 330 | 0.427 | 0.681 | 1.108 | 0.449 | |
Rockies | 202 | 0.393 | 0.693 | 1.086 | 0.445 | |
Tigers | 248 | 0.407 | 0.634 | 1.041 | 0.434 | |
Angels | 338 | 0.462 | 0.536 | 0.997 | 0.423 | |
Rockies | 352 | 0.384 | 0.646 | 1.030 | 0.422 | |
Blue Jays | 351 | 0.414 | 0.590 | 1.004 | 0.420 | |
Dodgers | 230 | 0.378 | 0.621 | 0.999 | 0.417 | |
Nationals | 277 | 0.397 | 0.591 | 0.988 | 0.409 | |
Tigers | 217 | 0.433 | 0.513 | 0.945 | 0.408 | |
Reds | 337 | 0.430 | 0.536 | 0.967 | 0.408 | |
Rockies | 317 | 0.375 | 0.591 | 0.966 | 0.407 | |
Indians | 316 | 0.408 | 0.544 | 0.952 | 0.406 | |
Tigers | 324 | 0.389 | 0.587 | 0.976 | 0.405 | |
Indians | 329 | 0.392 | 0.566 | 0.958 | 0.402 | |
Padres | 348 | 0.385 | 0.569 | 0.954 | 0.401 | |
Rockies | 313 | 0.399 | 0.540 | 0.939 | 0.398 | |
Dodgers | 338 | 0.373 | 0.574 | 0.946 | 0.398 | |
Red Sox | 326 | 0.377 | 0.566 | 0.943 | 0.397 | |
Red Sox | 355 | 0.361 | 0.588 | 0.948 | 0.397 | |
Twins | 206 | 0.417 | 0.494 | 0.912 | 0.396 | |
Cardinals | 277 | 0.404 | 0.526 | 0.930 | 0.394 | |
Diamondbacks | 252 | 0.365 | 0.567 | 0.932 | 0.393 | |
Brewers | 269 | 0.379 | 0.564 | 0.943 | 0.393 | |
Blue Jays | 338 | 0.373 | 0.570 | 0.943 | 0.392 |
It’s hardly a surprise to see a Rockie at the top of the lineup at home. Surprised to see it be a doubles hitter though in DJL who was joined in the top-6 by two teammates – Story and Arenado.
Grandal isn’t just a great defensive catcher. He also mashed at home.
How did Maybin end up on the list? Doesn’t matter. He’s always hurt anyway.
Grossman had a .396 wOBA last season at home. That’s better than luminaries like Paul Goldschmidt (.391), Kris Bryant (.383) and Francisco Lindor (.379).
Some disappointing players at home: Anthony Rendon (.345), Jose Bautista (.345), Bryce Harper (.339), Starling Marte (.338) and Christian Yelich (.337).
AWAY HITTERS
(Minimum 200 plate appearances)
Name | Team | PA | OBP | SLG | OPS | wOBA |
Braves | 348 | 0.431 | 0.641 | 1.072 | 0.438 | |
Astros | 362 | 0.439 | 0.552 | 0.991 | 0.419 | |
Reds | 340 | 0.438 | 0.564 | 1.002 | 0.418 | |
Angels | 343 | 0.420 | 0.564 | 0.984 | 0.414 | |
Mariners | 333 | 0.378 | 0.616 | 0.994 | 0.413 | |
Cubs | 361 | 0.393 | 0.587 | 0.980 | 0.409 | |
Nationals | 305 | 0.384 | 0.599 | 0.982 | 0.408 | |
Mariners | 367 | 0.379 | 0.583 | 0.962 | 0.402 | |
Athletics | 244 | 0.377 | 0.557 | 0.934 | 0.396 | |
Marlins | 347 | 0.392 | 0.542 | 0.934 | 0.395 | |
Cubs | 285 | 0.411 | 0.504 | 0.915 | 0.394 | |
Tigers | 355 | 0.397 | 0.540 | 0.938 | 0.393 | |
Cardinals | 221 | 0.386 | 0.552 | 0.938 | 0.392 | |
Cubs | 347 | 0.366 | 0.568 | 0.934 | 0.391 | |
Cubs | 329 | 0.396 | 0.516 | 0.912 | 0.390 | |
Rockies | 328 | 0.363 | 0.563 | 0.926 | 0.390 | |
Red Sox | 296 | 0.372 | 0.556 | 0.927 | 0.387 | |
Blue Jays | 349 | 0.394 | 0.509 | 0.902 | 0.386 | |
Tigers | 305 | 0.387 | 0.531 | 0.918 | 0.386 | |
Marlins | 281 | 0.399 | 0.494 | 0.893 | 0.385 | |
Dodgers | 319 | 0.351 | 0.551 | 0.902 | 0.379 | |
Twins | 344 | 0.354 | 0.544 | 0.897 | 0.376 | |
Angels | 336 | 0.384 | 0.491 | 0.875 | 0.376 | |
Diamondbacks | 353 | 0.416 | 0.453 | 0.869 | 0.372 | |
Giants | 330 | 0.388 | 0.476 | 0.864 | 0.372 |
There were 16 men with a wOBA over .400 at home.
There were only eight men on the road.
Freeman was an absolute monster performer on the road last season.
Valencia certainly likely hitting outside Oakland.
Yelich may have struggled at home but he was a star on the road.
Rizzo had a .392 mark at home and .391 on the road. Can’t get much better than that.
DJL was way down at .326 on the road which was, amazingly, one point better than Buster Posey and two points better than Albert Pujols and Jose Abreu.
HOME – PITCHERS
*Minimum 50 innings pitched.
Name | Team | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
Dodgers | 0.151 | 0.171 | 0.195 | 0.161 | |
Cubs | 0.199 | 0.244 | 0.272 | 0.228 | |
Marlins | 0.189 | 0.256 | 0.272 | 0.234 | |
Cubs | 0.181 | 0.240 | 0.297 | 0.237 | |
Christopher Devenski | Astros | 0.223 | 0.260 | 0.283 | 0.240 |
Giants | 0.193 | 0.251 | 0.293 | 0.241 | |
ATL/LAD | 0.189 | 0.269 | 0.285 | 0.246 | |
Nationals | 0.190 | 0.248 | 0.329 | 0.250 | |
Cubs | 0.185 | 0.280 | 0.278 | 0.253 | |
Cubs | 0.190 | 0.268 | 0.310 | 0.257 | |
Mets | 0.198 | 0.268 | 0.313 | 0.258 | |
Brewers | 0.208 | 0.277 | 0.321 | 0.263 | |
Cubs | 0.201 | 0.268 | 0.341 | 0.265 | |
Giants | 0.245 | 0.285 | 0.322 | 0.265 | |
Tigers | 0.193 | 0.245 | 0.380 | 0.267 | |
ATL/LAA | 0.233 | 0.289 | 0.324 | 0.268 | |
Mets | 0.243 | 0.283 | 0.343 | 0.271 | |
Rays | 0.213 | 0.282 | 0.335 | 0.272 | |
White Sox | 0.221 | 0.257 | 0.386 | 0.275 | |
Pirates | 0.224 | 0.267 | 0.373 | 0.276 | |
Red Sox | 0.239 | 0.277 | 0.364 | 0.278 | |
Nationals | 0.226 | 0.315 | 0.307 | 0.280 | |
TB/SF | 0.225 | 0.289 | 0.349 | 0.281 | |
Phillies | 0.197 | 0.270 | 0.387 | 0.282 | |
Rays | 0.238 | 0.282 | 0.370 | 0.282 |
How good was Kershaw last year at home? Insane.
What the hell is Bud Norris doing on this list? I don’t know either.
The Cubs had four pitchers in the top-10 and five in the top-13. That’s impossible.
Guerra surely liked the home cooking last year.
Velasquez cannot be trusted to throw innings but he was extremely successful at home.
Drew Smyly posted a mark of .287. That was one point better than Corey Kluber.
I have to admit that the .290 mark that Jon Gray posted in Coors is flippin’ awesome. Could he actually establish himself as a legitimate fantasy option in 2017?
Felix Hernandez wasn’t good last year. Still, his .303 mark at home was two points better than Chris Sale and three points better than Danny Salazar.
AWAY – PITCHERS
wOBA is weighted on-base average, and it measures a hitters/pitchers overall offensive/pitching value.
*Minimum 50 innings pitched.
Name | Team | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
OAK/LAD | 0.177 | 0.244 | 0.243 | 0.221 | |
Dodgers | 0.213 | 0.235 | 0.338 | 0.244 | |
Christopher Devenski | Astros | 0.184 | 0.240 | 0.320 | 0.244 |
Red Sox | 0.198 | 0.272 | 0.284 | 0.248 | |
Rockies | 0.189 | 0.286 | 0.272 | 0.253 | |
Rangers | 0.198 | 0.247 | 0.342 | 0.256 | |
Indians | 0.207 | 0.250 | 0.355 | 0.259 | |
Indians | 0.206 | 0.268 | 0.324 | 0.260 | |
Blue Jays | 0.213 | 0.276 | 0.313 | 0.261 | |
Blue Jays | 0.192 | 0.259 | 0.335 | 0.261 | |
White Sox | 0.220 | 0.279 | 0.315 | 0.262 | |
Yankees | 0.232 | 0.269 | 0.342 | 0.265 | |
Braves | 0.203 | 0.252 | 0.359 | 0.265 | |
SD/BOS | 0.196 | 0.278 | 0.334 | 0.267 | |
Cubs | 0.202 | 0.275 | 0.333 | 0.269 | |
Nationals | 0.219 | 0.285 | 0.324 | 0.270 | |
Red Sox | 0.219 | 0.260 | 0.369 | 0.272 | |
Rangers | 0.216 | 0.288 | 0.328 | 0.274 | |
Cardinals | 0.217 | 0.315 | 0.294 | 0.277 | |
Cubs | 0.211 | 0.278 | 0.365 | 0.278 | |
Tigers | 0.219 | 0.285 | 0.352 | 0.278 | |
Dodgers | 0.225 | 0.287 | 0.353 | 0.278 | |
Nationals | 0.202 | 0.258 | 0.394 | 0.279 | |
Red Sox | 0.217 | 0.283 | 0.355 | 0.279 | |
Red Sox | 0.218 | 0.306 | 0.331 | 0.283 |
Hill was great on the road, no matter what team he pitched for.
Chatwood was torched at home but he was stellar on the road.
Noah Syndergaard (.284) and Johnny Cueto (.287) finished just off the list. Jon Lester wasn’t too far behind either at .291.
David Price and Zack Greinke each had marks of .301, two points better than Danny Duffy & Danny Salazar.
Jose Quintana was at .314, one point better than Marcus Stroman and Robbie Ray.
Chris Archer was trending downward at .335. That mark was still better than the .342 mark of Jacob deGrom.
HITTERS VS. LEFTIES
- Minimum 100 plate appearances.
Name | Team | OBP | SLG | OPS | wOBA |
Diamondbacks | 0.423 | 0.690 | 1.112 | 0.460 | |
Mets | 0.383 | 0.710 | 1.093 | 0.455 | |
Red Sox | 0.420 | 0.677 | 1.097 | 0.453 | |
Marlins | 0.500 | 0.568 | 1.068 | 0.452 | |
Diamondbacks | 0.494 | 0.576 | 1.070 | 0.449 | |
Mets | 0.457 | 0.624 | 1.081 | 0.441 | |
Cubs | 0.419 | 0.641 | 1.060 | 0.438 | |
TB /CLE | 0.461 | 0.553 | 1.013 | 0.437 | |
Nationals | 0.411 | 0.620 | 1.031 | 0.432 | |
Twins | 0.418 | 0.576 | 0.994 | 0.423 | |
Mets | 0.391 | 0.610 | 1.001 | 0.420 | |
Mariners | 0.376 | 0.644 | 1.020 | 0.419 | |
Rangers | 0.403 | 0.602 | 1.004 | 0.418 | |
Royals | 0.420 | 0.596 | 1.016 | 0.418 | |
Brewers | 0.411 | 0.598 | 1.010 | 0.417 | |
Angels | 0.437 | 0.550 | 0.987 | 0.416 | |
Nationals | 0.377 | 0.631 | 1.008 | 0.414 | |
Rockies | 0.385 | 0.590 | 0.975 | 0.409 | |
NYY/TEX | 0.380 | 0.589 | 0.970 | 0.407 | |
Pirates | 0.419 | 0.543 | 0.963 | 0.407 | |
Cardinals | 0.400 | 0.552 | 0.952 | 0.406 | |
Astros | 0.385 | 0.560 | 0.945 | 0.400 | |
Twins | 0.352 | 0.613 | 0.965 | 0.397 | |
Rockies | 0.415 | 0.517 | 0.931 | 0.397 | |
Blue Jays | 0.413 | 0.519 | 0.932 | 0.396 |
Look at the top-2. Not a person reading this article guesses those two at the top. No you didn’t. Put your hand down. Same could be said about Prado in 4th and Guyer in the 9th spot. Hell, Werth and Grossman in the top-10 are equally insane. #CrazyTime
Freese in the 20th spot is surprising as well.
Nick Hundley was at .384, one point better than Daniel Murphy.
Xander Bogaerts had the same mark as Jose Altuve (.378).
Anthony Rizzo was only two points better than Melky Cabrera (.362 to .360).
Victor Martinez and Mike Napoli posted identical marks of .352. That was one point better than Matt Carpenter and two points better than Hunter Pence.
Mookie Betts was at .341. That was one point less than Cesar Hernandez.
Carlos Gonzalez was down at .331, a point better than Robinson Cano and Jean Segura.
Bryce Harper vanished last year with a .322 mark, one point less than Andrelton Simmons. Seriously. It was still better than the .319 mark of Carlos Correa.
Kyle Seager kinda stunk against lefties with a .313 rate. That was one point better than Christian Yelich and five points better than Evan Longoria.
Justin Turner wasn’t usable in fantasy against lefties with a .283 mark which was three points better than Eric Hosmer and seven points better than sure out Jake Lamb.
HITTERS VS. RIGHTIES
- Minimum 200 plate appearances.
Name | Team | OBP | SLG | OPS | wOBA |
Red Sox | 0.407 | 0.665 | 1.072 | 0.435 | |
Reds | 0.448 | 0.584 | 1.033 | 0.429 | |
Nationals | 0.396 | 0.614 | 1.010 | 0.419 | |
Angels | 0.442 | 0.550 | 0.992 | 0.419 | |
Nationals | 0.378 | 0.607 | 0.985 | 0.413 | |
Braves | 0.405 | 0.596 | 1.001 | 0.410 | |
Rockies | 0.376 | 0.596 | 0.972 | 0.405 | |
Blue Jays | 0.401 | 0.558 | 0.960 | 0.405 | |
Cubs | 0.393 | 0.577 | 0.970 | 0.404 | |
Tigers | 0.388 | 0.578 | 0.966 | 0.403 | |
Dodgers | 0.391 | 0.557 | 0.948 | 0.400 | |
Mariners | 0.370 | 0.584 | 0.955 | 0.396 | |
Rockies | 0.358 | 0.593 | 0.951 | 0.395 | |
Astros | 0.398 | 0.544 | 0.942 | 0.395 | |
Cardinals | 0.387 | 0.554 | 0.941 | 0.393 | |
Orioles | 0.347 | 0.584 | 0.932 | 0.391 | |
Mariners | 0.394 | 0.538 | 0.932 | 0.390 | |
Tigers | 0.382 | 0.543 | 0.925 | 0.390 | |
Rockies | 0.417 | 0.486 | 0.903 | 0.390 | |
Red Sox | 0.377 | 0.540 | 0.917 | 0.388 | |
Indians | 0.374 | 0.541 | 0.915 | 0.388 | |
Dodgers | 0.371 | 0.547 | 0.918 | 0.386 | |
Cardinals | 0.388 | 0.532 | 0.920 | 0.386 | |
Marlins | 0.392 | 0.516 | 0.908 | 0.386 | |
Dodgers | 0.356 | 0.563 | 0.919 | 0.385 |
Turner and Seager had excellent rookie seasons (duh).
Santana was at .388 the same as Betts.
Kris Bryant was just off the list at .382.
Ryan Schimpf pounded righties with a .377 mark.
Josh Reddick and Jonathan Lucroy had marks of .371, one point better than Brandon Belt and Edwin Encarnacion.
Paul Goldschmidt was at .362, the same mark as three batters: Brian Dozier, Evan Longoria and Willson Contreras.
Some other notable bats: Manny Machado (.359), Starling Marte (.358), Yoenis Cespedes (.352), Bruce Harper (Yoenis Cespedes (.352), Bruce Harper (.352).
Wil Myers was down at .339. That’s three points better than George Springer who was one point better than Max Kepler.
Justin Upton (.332) had the same mark as Adam Duvall and Gregory Polanco. They were all one point better than Giancarlo Stanton and two points better than Miguel Sano.
Buster Posey disappointed at .324, one point better than Todd Frazier and five points better than Matt Kemp.
Yasmany Tomas, who led against lefties, sucked eggs with the 196th best mark against righties at .306.
PITCHERS VS. LEFTIES
*Minimum 50 innings pitched.
Name | Team | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
Rays | 0.189 | 0.252 | 0.325 | 0.254 | |
Red Sox | 0.224 | 0.260 | 0.339 | 0.261 | |
Tigers | 0.184 | 0.253 | 0.350 | 0.261 | |
Blue Jays | 0.189 | 0.270 | 0.332 | 0.266 | |
Cubs | 0.217 | 0.277 | 0.339 | 0.269 | |
Nationals | 0.199 | 0.268 | 0.347 | 0.269 | |
Brewers | 0.190 | 0.283 | 0.335 | 0.271 | |
Red Sox | 0.208 | 0.286 | 0.321 | 0.271 | |
Mets | 0.237 | 0.288 | 0.336 | 0.273 | |
Indians | 0.199 | 0.279 | 0.349 | 0.273 | |
Tigers | 0.220 | 0.297 | 0.325 | 0.276 | |
Christopher Devenski | Astros | 0.226 | 0.277 | 0.362 | 0.277 |
Cubs | 0.193 | 0.308 | 0.304 | 0.278 | |
Yankees | 0.234 | 0.263 | 0.392 | 0.280 | |
Nationals | 0.212 | 0.315 | 0.302 | 0.281 | |
Indians | 0.225 | 0.289 | 0.359 | 0.284 | |
Orioles | 0.231 | 0.272 | 0.387 | 0.284 | |
Indians | 0.227 | 0.247 | 0.438 | 0.287 | |
Brewers | 0.201 | 0.278 | 0.386 | 0.289 | |
Reds | 0.189 | 0.306 | 0.339 | 0.290 | |
Giants | 0.252 | 0.300 | 0.370 | 0.291 | |
Blue Jays | 0.216 | 0.306 | 0.352 | 0.292 | |
Twins | 0.246 | 0.310 | 0.357 | 0.293 | |
Rangers | 0.227 | 0.293 | 0.385 | 0.295 | |
White Sox | 0.233 | 0.308 | 0.366 | 0.296 |
Odorizzi led the way in another surprise. Is that more surprising than Junior Guerra posting a mark that was .027 points better than Jose Fernandez? Guerra’s teammate, Anderson, also had a lot of success against lefties.
Devenski was on a lot of these lists, wasn’t he?
Noah Syndergaard at .309 was four points better than Carlos Carrasco, who was one point better than Jameson Taillon who was six points better than David Price (.320).
Dylan Bundy .323 had an impressive season given expectations from last March. He was slightly better than Julio Teheran (.325).
Adam Wainwright (.361) was better than Gerrit Cole (.371). Both righties disappointed.
PITCHERS VS. RIGHTIES
Name | Team | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
Nationals | 0.154 | 0.189 | 0.288 | 0.206 | |
Dodgers | 0.199 | 0.223 | 0.307 | 0.227 | |
Braves | 0.211 | 0.241 | 0.322 | 0.243 | |
Cubs | 0.196 | 0.251 | 0.305 | 0.243 | |
Cubs | 0.194 | 0.250 | 0.307 | 0.246 | |
Mets | 0.226 | 0.258 | 0.322 | 0.252 | |
Giants | 0.221 | 0.269 | 0.332 | 0.263 | |
Cubs | 0.198 | 0.251 | 0.359 | 0.264 | |
Indians | 0.203 | 0.261 | 0.354 | 0.266 | |
Cubs | 0.211 | 0.276 | 0.345 | 0.272 | |
Giants | 0.222 | 0.276 | 0.364 | 0.276 | |
Yankees | 0.233 | 0.281 | 0.354 | 0.277 | |
Giants | 0.218 | 0.275 | 0.367 | 0.279 | |
Tigers | 0.223 | 0.272 | 0.385 | 0.283 | |
Nationals | 0.236 | 0.299 | 0.349 | 0.283 | |
Phillies | 0.226 | 0.261 | 0.411 | 0.285 | |
White Sox | 0.230 | 0.286 | 0.376 | 0.287 | |
SD/BOS | 0.208 | 0.281 | 0.381 | 0.287 | |
Red Sox | 0.233 | 0.276 | 0.396 | 0.289 | |
Blue Jays | 0.227 | 0.292 | 0.377 | 0.292 | |
Mets | 0.249 | 0.302 | 0.384 | 0.296 | |
White Sox | 0.245 | 0.298 | 0.400 | 0.302 | |
Blue Jays | 0.259 | 0.301 | 0.397 | 0.302 | |
Mariners | 0.275 | 0.305 | 0.409 | 0.303 | |
Red Sox | 0.249 | 0.300 | 0.411 | 0.305 |
While Teheran struggled a bit against lefties he dominated righties.
Samardzija never seems to live up to expectations. Still, he was better than MadBum but three points.
Jeremy Hellickson better than Chris Sale? Yep, that happened.
Paxton finished three points ahead of Chris Archer and .013 points better than Cole Hamels. Yep, that happened too.
Sean Manaea had a solid rookie season at .322, the same mark as Dan Straily. Both men were substantially better than Robbie Ray (.343).