4 reasons why the Cardinals should regret letting pitching coach Mike Maddux go

The Mike Maddux-led Texas Rangers are in first place. The Dusty Blake-led Cardinals are in last. Should the Cardinals regret not extending Maddux this past offseason?
Houston Astros v Texas Rangers
Houston Astros v Texas Rangers / Sam Hodde/GettyImages
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Batted Ball Statistics

High chase percentages, weak contact, and high whiff percentages are just three ways to get batters out. The Cardinals have been a powerhouse for weak contact and high groundball rates of late. The shift ban makes that approach a bit harder. Let's take a look at four stats that contribute to chases, weak contact, and whiffs.

Team

Chase %

Exit Velocity

Whiff %

Barrel %

St. Louis Cardinals

28.3%

90.1% (top-3 in league)

25.5%

8.8%

Texas Rangers

30%

89%

25.6%

8%

The Rangers beat the Cardinals in each of these four statistics. Not only are the Rangers' pitchers getting batters to chase balls, they are also severely limiting hard contact. The Cardinals are worse than league average in every one of those statistics while the Rangers are better than league average.