Hit graphs

This is presented without much explanation.  Below is a chart of the Yankees' starting lineup (and some prominent part-time players) in hit graph form.

Derek Jeter's obviously the king, as he reached 3,000 hits earlier this year. At 2,762 for his career, Alex Rodriguez looks like he's got a handle on entering the 3K club as well. Two guys who have really leveled are Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones, who were on the fast track before being hit by injuries/general ineffectiveness. Robinson Cano is a hit-machine, though he he's not quite at Jeter's pace through his age 28 season. Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson are similar in their hit profiles and aren't on any sort of special pace.  Jorge Posada is notable here as a good player who's been able to cut it for a long time (notice the slight bump at 2007, when he got a career best 171 hits).  I put Eduardo Nunez on the graph since he's played a lot this year, but he's no more than a blip on the radar here as a second-year role player.

Yankees' first-pitch swing rates

I noticed a question in a River Ave. Blues mailbag session from earlier today, asking about the Yankees and first-pitch swing percentage.  I've looked at that stat a few times before, so it's not too much trouble to load it up for 2011 data.  The league average so far in 2011 for swing percentage on the first pitch of an at-bat is .265.  Using a 150 plate appearance limit, leaving 207 qualified batters, Vladimir Guerrero leads the majors with a first-pitch swing rate of .423; Jamey Carroll is last at .014.  The table below shows where the Yankees fall on the list.

Rank	Batter	FP Swing Rate
6	Robinson Cano	.409
72	Russell Martin	.291
101	Nick Swisher	.263
103	Derek Jeter	.262
112	Alex Rodriguez	.252
134	Jorge Posada	.232
160	Mark Teixeira	.209
193	Curtis Granderson	.138
200	Brett Gardner	.110

Andruw Jones, the only other Yankee batter with more than 50 plate appearances, has a rate of .338. 

Some offensive leaders and trailers

Here are offensive leaders and trailers for some rates through the first four weeks of the regular season, minimum 80 plate appearances.

AVERAGE

League batting average so far in the majors is .257.

Robinson Cano	Yankees	.387
Austin Jackson	Tigers	.367
Andre Ethier	Dodgers	.365
Ryan Theriot	Cubs	.355
David Freese	Cardinals	.355
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Nick Johnson	Yankees	.141
Travis Snider	Blue Jays	.149
Aramis Ramirez	Cubs	.155
Carlos Quentin	White Sox	.173
Drew Stubbs	Reds	.179

DISCIPLINE

Based on walks/plate appearance. League average Isolated Discipline (IsoD) so far in the majors is .088.

Nick Johnson	Yankees	.241
Josh Willingham	Nationals	.194
Chone Figgins	Mariners	.189
David Wright	Mets	.187
Chipper Jones	Braves	.186
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Yuniesky Betancourt	Royals	.010
Pedro Feliz	Astros	.011
Alexei Ramirez	White Sox	.012
Julio Borbon	Rangers	.013
Placido Polanco	Phillies	.019

POWER

Based on Isolated Power ((TB-H)/AB). League average IsoP so far is .151.

Paul Konerko	White Sox	.494
Kelly Johnson	Diamondbacks	.417
Ty Wigginton	Orioles	.400
Robinson Cano	Yankees	.376
Andre Ethier	Dodgers	.365
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Chris Coghlan	Marlins	.000
Juan Pierre	White Sox	.000
Scott Podsednik	Royals	.022
Jerry Hairston, Jr.	Padres	.026
Melky Cabrera	Braves	.038

SPEED

Based on Bill James' speed score, in which 5 is considered average and 10 is maximum.

Julio Borbon	Rangers	9.4
Brett Gardner	Yankees	9.2
Will Venable	Padres	9.2
Drew Stubbs	Reds	9.1
Rafael Furcal	Dodgers	9.1
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Brandon Inge	Tigers	0.1
Paul Konerko	White Sox	0.2
Hideki Matsui	Angels	0.3
Jason Kubel	Twins	0.4
Travis Hafner	Indians	0.7

THE WHOLE PACKAGE

Based on my personal favorite metric for gauging overall player production, wOBA. wOBA is scaled to on-base average, so league average wOBA is around .330-.335.

Robinson Cano	Yankees	.495
Andre Ethier	Dodgers	.490
Paul Konerko	White Sox	.487
Justin Morneau	Twins	.482
Ty Wigginton	Orioles	.475
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Chris Coghlan	Marlins	.207
Carlos Lee	Astros	.208
Jerry Hairston, Jr.	Padres	.221
Aramis Ramirez	Cubs	.222
Julio Borbon	Rangers	.222

Well, well. How about that Robinson Cano. Though he is still not good at taking walks, his newfound power skills have turned him into one of the best players in the game. Personally, I was surprised to see such a lack of Albert Pujols on these lists, though it's not like he's having a bad season (.445 wOBA). I wonder how many of these same players will be up at the top of these leaderboards at the all-star break.