The Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> have started the season 3\u20136, last in the National League West. Pitching, for the most part, has not been the problem. It has been a lack of timely hitting. There are goods and bads to what is happening. Their approach is excellent, forcing opposing pitchers to throw strikes. However, when strikes are<\/em> thrown, the Diamondbacks are not capitalizing. A look at the Diamondbacks hitting splits tells the full story.<\/p>\n Overall batting stats show that the Diamondbacks are not doing well, to say the least. A positive is that they lead the league in walk percentage, with 14%. That is almost three full percentage points ahead of the second-place New York Mets. Again, it shows that the Diamondbacks are taking good approaches at the plate. However, unless a team draws several walks in a row, the walks only translate to runs if hits come afterwards. That has been a big problem for the Diamondbacks, because their batting average is .152 \u2014 dead last in the National League. To put that in perspective, six Diamondbacks pitchers<\/em> batted better than .152 in 2021.<\/p>\n Their slash line \u2014 .152\/.284\/.264 \u2014 shows another problem: their on-base percentage is higher than their slugging percentage. When hitting is in proper balance, the first digit of each slash number will generally increase by one. If a team\u2019s batting average is in the .200s, then their on-base percentage will be in the .300s and their slugging percentage will be in the .400s. The Colorado Rockies<\/a>, St. Louis Cardinals<\/a>, Chicago Cubs<\/a>, Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>, New York Mets<\/a>, San Francisco Giants<\/a>, and Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> are all currently doing that. If a team\u2019s on-base percentage and slugging percentage both start with the same number, that means they\u2019re not getting enough extra-base hits. It is even worse for the Diamondbacks, however, because their on-base percentage is higher<\/em> than their slugging percentage. Not only is this alarming, but no other team in the National League is doing so.<\/p>\n These two factors merely scratch the surface when looking at their abysmal run production thus far in the season. When looking at their overall offensive performance \u2014 measured by weighted runs above average (wRAA) \u2014 the Diamondbacks come in nearly 12 runs below the league average. The only team with a lower wRAA score is the Cincinnati Reds<\/a>. That is because the Reds have drawn slightly more than half the walks that the Diamondbacks have, doing so while playing one more game.<\/p>\n But it gets worse than that for the Diamondbacks. They hit much better with the bases empty than they do with runners on base or in scoring position, as seen in the tables below. Take for example, their extra-base hits. They have a total of 17 extra-base hits on the season. Ten of them have come with the bases empty, while seven of them have come with runners on base. Of those seven, only three have come with runners in scoring position. Look also at their home runs. The Diamondbacks have a total of seven home runs on the season. Four were solo shots.<\/p>\nDiamondbacks Hitting: Overall Stats<\/h3>\n
Low Run Production<\/h3>\n