Before the advent of Statcast, a player’s combination of power and speed was measured solely by home run and stolen base totals. Now, however, statisticians can rely on more advanced metrics to identify which players are both fearsome sluggers and elite baserunners.
One way to determine which players possess a dynamic skill set is by comparing their total number of “barrels” to the number of “bolts” they’ve accumulated. A “barrel” is defined as a batted-ball event whose comparable hit types (based on exit velocity and launch angle) have led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage since tracking technology was first introduced. Barreled balls must have an exit velocity of at least 98 miles-per-hour.
According to Statcast, a “bolt” is a run where the player’s Sprint Speed (feet-per-second in a player’s fastest one-second window) is at least 30 feet-per-second.
Players that combine a high number of barrels (well-struck balls) and bolts (fast sprints on the bases) are widely considered some of the game’s most exciting talents.
During the 2019 season, just four players combined at least 50 barrels with at least 15 bolts. Two of those players (Cody Bellinger and Mike Trout) won the MVP award while another (Christian Yelich) finished second in the voting. Another name on the list, Ronald Acuña Jr., fell just short of joining baseball’s “40-40 club” (40+ home runs, 40+ stolen bases in a season).
Players with 50+ Barrels,
15+ Bolts in 2019
Barrels Bolts
66 Mike Trout 27
66 Ronald Acuña Jr 44
59 Cody Bellinger 22
59 Christian Yelich 18
