In hitting which is better, contact or power?

Question

Bat .350 or hit 70hr?

Hit (.350, 0 HR) or hit (.200, 70HR)?

Answer 1

Power hitters are far move valuable than contact hitters. If I had a team of hitters that hit .350 with 10 homeruns each or a team of hitters that hit .250 with 70 homers each, I'd take the power hitters every day. They would score a lot more runs than the team of power hitters.

Answer 2

Contact for sure. A person that can score runs and get on base will have a bigger impact on a team than a guy that hits 73 HRS. Look at SF, Chicago Cubs, Oakland...what did they win? But teams like Florida, Arizona, and the White Sox won with players getting on base, stealing and putting the pressure on the other team. Look at the Yankees now and what they were in the 90s. They were much more dominate in the 90s. Homeruns are the most overated statistic in Baseball. OBP, RBIs and Runs Scored are the most important.

Getting on base is the most important thing a hitter can do.

Answer 3

Contact is better if the player hits above .300. Because those types of players don't have high strikeout rates so they are more likely to put the ball in play, which will score runs if men are on base and are more likely to make productive outs. Of course the down side of putting the ball in play is that a player might ground out into a double play but since they have a high batting average the likelihood of that happening is a lot less.

If player is a power hitter they are more likely to have high strikeout numbers which are not really productive and lead to low batting averages. However, there are exceptions to that rule for example Vlad Guerrero he hits for power and average and doesn't strike out a lot. So in player like him you have the best of both worlds.

Answer 4

Contact is more imporant because even the best power hitters will only get a home run once every 3 or 4 games. Contact hitters get on base up to twice a game on average. So, in the time it takes an Adam Dunn to hit a home run, an Alex Rios has reached base over a half-dozen times.

Answer 5

hitting 70hr is way better than a .350 average because a high average but it does not compare to 70hr

Answer 6

I would say contact, because With contact u can score runs get extra basehits and have a really really high batting average. For Power, because if u have power u might break the record, plus will u probably carry your team on your back, and hitting homers gives your team a chance to win a lot of games.

Answer 7

I'd take .350 and 0 HR any day! It's more fun to be on the base pad than hit .200 and continually be striking out or popping up...

Answer 8

70 hrs because obviously if your hitting 70 home runs you are getting good contact... you can help your team more because you are definately driving in runs and scoring some on your own. if you want to use barry bonds as an example of power but losing, you can also use ichiro as an example of contact but losing too, its neither of their faults cuz no one can do it by themselves anyways. in addition to the 70 home runs, a power hitter will also be walked much more than a contact hitter because the pitcher is more afraid of someone hitting a home run than someone hitting a single or double, resulting in a very good OBP which is just as good as an average.

Answer 9

Depends on where you're batting in the lineup. I don't think hitting 70 hr. and leading off and batting .249 is good, but it would be for the 5th or 6th position.

If I had to pick one, contact would be better. Solid contact can lead to driving the ball, which can lead to a few homeruns.

Answer 10

That's not really a choice among hitters. This discussion was just on last night during the White Sox game with "Hawk" & D.J. They have a different mentality which can't be changed without destroying what they have. In other words, you can't teach hitting. It has to be a natural thing of wrists, eyes and mentality.