Josh Bell
2026
Grade
His season is in line with his established level.
Above average everywhere, with the bat-to-ball skill to match the thump.
A genuinely productive bat
Josh Bell creates bases at a near-elite clip. He creates more per plate appearance than 89% of qualified hitters. There are no real holes either. His weakest mark, his walk rate, sits near the middle of the pack.
631 plate appearances · data through 2026-09-27.
How to read this chart
Plays like…
Each of these hitters shares his archetype and sits closest to him in EB/PA. Pick one to see him side by side with Josh Bell.
Hitter type
Hitter type
He hits the ball hard more often than most, and he controls the strike zone better than most.
League best:BB% − K% Josue De Paula (14.3%)Hard-hit% Yohandy Morales (62.5%)
How to read this chart
| Josh Bell | League median | Percentile | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bases per ball in play(higher = better) | .559 | .511 | — |
| Walk rate(higher = better) | 8% | 8% | 52nd |
| Strikeout rate(lower = better) | 20% | 23% | 70th |
A higher percentile is better, and the 99th is the top of the league.
Platoon splits
Platoon splits (EB/PA)
He hits righties better than lefties, by 0.044 EB/PA.
50% probable range: +0.022 to +0.065
vs LHP: shrunk estimate 0.473 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.452 to 0.494, based on 210 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.430 EB/PA. League median vs LHP: 0.424 EB/PA.
vs RHP: shrunk estimate 0.517 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.502 to 0.533, based on 423 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.514 EB/PA. League median vs RHP: 0.433 EB/PA.
His split is wider than the typical switch hitter's (median 0.023). He is above the league median against both hands, so even his weaker side is a strength.
He sits in the league's top quarter vs both lefties and righties.
How to read this chart
- Each dot is his estimate against that hand, with its 50% probable range as the bar. Higher is better.
- The diamond is his raw rate, which small samples make noisy, so the simulator pulls the dot toward a more trustworthy value.
- The dashed tick is the league median, and the shaded strip is the middle half of hitters with 50 or more plate appearances.
- Josh Bell switch-hits, so he can choose the platoon-advantaged side almost every plate appearance. A small gap is expected.
- Tap or hover a mark for its number. LHP and RHP are left- and right-handed pitchers. More on the About page
How he hits
He hits the ball to the pull side most often, and that's where he does the most damage.
Best batted balls
Luck check
3 of his outs came on balls the simulator values at 1.5 bases or more.
9 of his hits had less than a 20% chance of being hits.
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Performance by pitch type
Each row shows the bases he adds per 100 pitches of one type, against the league.
−4.5 bases per 100 · no single-type league comparison
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Deserved vs. actual
Josh Bell's contact has earned about 14 more bases than he has been credited with. His results have run unlucky so far.
Both bars count only his 450 balls in play, so walks and strikeouts are left out.
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Swing
Swing at a glance
Batting left
He swings about as fast as most hitters. His swing is longer than most hitters', with a typical attack angle. With two strikes, he cuts his bat speed more than most hitters. Batting left, his bat travels on a fairly typical path. Batting right, it travels on a steeper path than most. Batting left, his swing length is 3.5 inches shorter since April, which counts as "a real change" and not day-to-day noise.
- Attack angle
- 9.4°
- Lg median 9.6°
- Swing length
- 7.9 ft
- Lg median 7.3 ft
- Swing path tilt
- 32.9°
- Lg median 32.4°
How to read this chart
- Bat speed counts competitive swings only, so bunts and check swings under 50 mph are left out.
- Swing length is how far the sweet spot of the bat travels during the swing. Attack angle is the bat’s upward or downward tilt through the zone.
- Swing path tilt is how steep the bat’s path is.
- “A real change” means the move from his first full month to his latest clears a strict statistical bar.
- None of these is better or worse on its own. Swing style trades power against contact, and the fastest and slowest swings in the league both belong to stars. More on the About page
His two swings
- Bat speed
- 71.8 mph batting left
- 69.6 mph batting right
- Lg median 71.1 mph
Batting left
- Attack angle
- 9.9°
- Lg median 9.6°
- Swing length
- 7.9 ft
- Lg median 7.3 ft
- Swing path tilt
- 32.9°
- Lg median 32.4°
Batting right
- Attack angle
- 8.5°
- Lg median 9.6°
- Swing length
- 7.8 ft
- Lg median 7.3 ft
- Swing path tilt
- 35.4°
- Lg median 31.4°
About 72% of switch hitters swing faster right-handed, among the 36 with enough swings from both sides to tell. His left-handed swing is 2.2 mph faster.
How to read this chart
- Both sides need at least 100 competitive swings for this card. Below that, the difference between them is mostly measurement noise.
- Swing path tilt is compared with the league median for that batting side. Bat speed, swing length and attack angle are compared with the league median for all hitters.
- The card only names a difference when it is more than three times its own margin of error and big enough to matter. For a few switch hitters nothing clears that bar, and the card cannot tell the two sides apart.
Timing
Timing at a glance
He squares the ball up about as often as most hitters. When his timing is off, it's usually early, about 13 ms ahead of perfect timing. When he misses vertically, it's more often under the ball than over it. More of his mishits come from reaching at pitches away from him than from getting tied up inside.
How to read this chart
- Perfect contact is a swing that is centered, on time and lined up, all at once. On-time swings land within 7 milliseconds of ideal timing. Higher is better on both.
- Miss distance counts swings and misses only. It is how far the barrel half of the bat passed from the ball, in inches, and lower is better.
- League comparisons cover hitters with 100 or more tracked swings this season. Switch hitters have both sides combined.
- More on the About page
How he sets up
How he sets up
He sets up with a wide base, his feet 38″ apart against the 30″ league average.
Each point is his average setup for one month this season, about a second before each pitch.
How to read this chart
- This is an overhead view of the batter’s box. The dots are his feet about one second before the pitch, and the rings are the league-average setup.
- Open means his front foot is pulled off the line to the plate, and closed means it steps toward it. Neither is better or worse.
- The chart is his monthly average this season. The band and dashed line are the middle half and the median of hitters over the whole season.
- On the angle chart, below zero is open and above zero is closed.
- Data through 2026-09-27. More on the About page
Best games
Best games
These are his best games this season, ranked by bases above replacement.
- vs YankeesJul 4, 2026
3-5 · 2B, HR ×2
- Bases created
- 9.4
- Above replacement
- +7.6
- vs AstrosMay 18, 2026
3-4 · HR ×2
- Bases created
- 6.3
- Above replacement
- +4.9
- vs AthleticsAug 24, 2026
1-3 · 2B, HBP
- Bases created
- 5.9
- Above replacement
- +4.1
- vs RoyalsAug 4, 2026
2-4 · HR
- Bases created
- 5.5
- Above replacement
- +4.1
- vs White SoxSep 4, 2026
2-3 · HR, BB
- Bases created
- 5.4
- Above replacement
- +4.0
Trends
Multi-season trends · Josh Bell
Compared with last season, his HR% is down, his BB% is down, his K% is up, his Barrel% is down and his Hard-hit% is down.
Actual rates show what happened on the field, season by season.