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Michael Busch

2026
Cubs· 1B · bats L · throws R· 710 plate appearances
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Grade

His grade shows how good he has been, and at what.
A+better than 94% of hitters at creating bases

His season is in line with his established level.

Complete Hitter

Above average everywhere, with the bat-to-ball skill to match the thump.

One of the league's most dangerous bats

Michael Busch walks at an elite clip. He walks more often than 95% of qualified hitters. There are no real holes either. His weakest mark, his strikeout rate, sits near the middle of the pack.

710 plate appearances · data through 2026-09-27.

How to read this chart
Each spoke is a skill estimate adjusted for sample size, not a raw season stat, and farther out is better. A ↓ marks a stat where a lower number is better, and its spoke is flipped so farther out still means better. The middle ring marks the league median and the outer ring the league best. EB/PA is estimated bases, HR% home runs, BB% walks and K% strikeouts, each per plate appearance, and Hard-hit% is balls hit 95 mph or harder. Percentiles compare him with 534 qualified hitters, the ones with 50 or more plate appearances.

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 Michael Busch.

Bryan ReynoldsPiratesKyle TuckerDodgersWill SmithDodgersKetel MarteD-backs

Hitter type

See what kind of hitter he is, next to the rest of the league.

Hitter type

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
Two skills separate hitting styles: not giving away at-bats (walk rate minus strikeout rate) and squaring the ball up (hard-hit rate). Up and to the right is better on both. Every dot is a hitter with at least 40 plate appearances this season, and dot size tracks plate appearances. Click any dot to open that hitter's page.
 Michael BuschLeague medianPercentile
Bases per ball in play(higher = better).562.511—
Walk rate(higher = better)13%8%95th
Strikeout rate(lower = better)23%23%48th

A higher percentile is better, and the 99th is the top of the league.

Platoon splits

See how he hits left-handed and right-handed pitchers.

Platoon splits (EB/PA)

He hits righties better than lefties, by 0.048 EB/PA.

50% probable range: +0.025 to +0.068

vs LHP205 PA0.487

vs LHP: shrunk estimate 0.487 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.467 to 0.508, based on 205 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.504 EB/PA. League median vs LHP: 0.424 EB/PA.

vs RHP507 PA0.535

vs RHP: shrunk estimate 0.535 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.520 to 0.550, based on 507 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.490 EB/PA. League median vs RHP: 0.433 EB/PA.

0.4090.4480.4870.5260.565
← worsebetter →
Above league medianBelow50% probable rangeHis raw rateMiddle half of the league

His split is narrower than the typical lefty bat's (median 0.078). 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.
  • 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

See what his contact is worth and what pitchers throw him.

He hits the ball to the pull side most often, and that's where he does the most damage.

Best batted balls

Every ball Michael Busch put in play this season is drawn where it landed.
hit · out
EBlowhigh
vs Tomoyuki SuganoHome run
106 mph · 28° · worth 3.9 bases
06/09 vs Rockies
vs Nick LodoloHome run
105 mph · 29° · worth 3.9 bases
09/19 vs Reds
vs Bradley BlalockHome run
106 mph · 32° · worth 3.9 bases
09/04 vs Marlins
vs Erick FeddeHome run
108 mph · 25° · worth 3.9 bases
05/17 vs White Sox
vs Rhett LowderHome run
103 mph · 27° · worth 3.8 bases
08/28 vs Reds

Luck check

8 of his outs came on balls the simulator values at 1.5 bases or more.

vs Sean BurkeOutUnlucky out
106 mph · 42° · worth 3.5 bases
05/15 vs White Sox
How to read this chart
Dot color is estimated bases (EB), what the contact was worth no matter what the defense did with it. Darker means more bases, so a dark hollow ring in the outfield is a crushed ball that got caught. Tap or hover a dot or a row to link the two, and use the ▶ links to watch a play on Baseball Savant.

Performance by pitch type

2026 · 2,812 pitches

Each row shows the bases he adds per 100 pitches of one type, against the league.

← below league medianabove league median →
Four-Seam Fastball (821 pitches)
+0.8
Lg median −0.4Lg best +8.7
Slider (427 pitches)
−0.3
Lg median −0.5Lg best +12.2
Sinker (394 pitches)
+0.4
Lg median −1.3Lg best +9.7
Changeup (358 pitches)
−0.7
Lg median −0.5Lg best +16.5
Sweeper (225 pitches)
+4.6
Lg median −0.2Lg best +15.7
Cutter (221 pitches)
+2.8
Lg median −0.4Lg best +16.4
Curveball (189 pitches)
+1.4
Lg median +0.4Lg best +22.2
Splitter (87 pitches)
−1.0
Lg median −0.5Lg best +12.9
Knuckle Curve (51 pitches)
+2.9
Lg median +0.7Lg best +10.8
Other (39 pitches)

+12.7 bases per 100 · no single-type league comparison

Above league medianBelowMiddle half of the leagueLg medianLg best
How to read this chart
Each row is the bases he adds per 100 pitches of that type, on the same scale as the pitcher pages’ “saved/cost per 100” but from the hitter’s side. Every pitch counts. Taking a ball adds value, whiffing loses it, and the pitch that ends the plate appearance scores its outcome against what that count usually produces. A value of +3.5 means his results against that pitch have been worth about 3.5 extra bases per 100 seen. Higher is better. Types with fewer than 50 pitches seen pool into “Other”.

Deserved vs. actual

Michael Busch's contact has earned about 11 more bases than he has been credited with. His results have run unlucky so far.

Deserved by his own contact247
Actually credited to him236

Both bars count only his 439 balls in play, so walks and strikeouts are left out.

How to read this chart
Every ball he puts in play is worth the bases its exit velocity, launch angle and direction usually earn. If the second bar is longer than the first, his results have run ahead of his contact and he has been lucky. If it is shorter, he has been unlucky.

Swing

See how fast he swings and what he changes with two strikes. League tracking starts in 2024.

Swing at a glance

2026 · data through 2026-09-27
Bat speed · 1152 swings
67.9 mph
Lg median 71.1 mph
Slowest: S. Kwan (61.8 mph)Fastest: J. Caminero (78.4 mph)
Lg median

He swings slower than most hitters. His swing length is typical, but his attack angle is steeper than most. With two strikes, he changes his bat speed less than most hitters. His bat travels on a fairly typical path. His attack angle is 3.9° flatter since April, which counts as "a real change" and not day-to-day noise.

Attack angle
14.6°
Lg median 9.6°
Swing length
7.0 ft
Lg median 7.3 ft
Swing path tilt
34.0°
Lg median 32.4°
Middle half of the league
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

Timing

See whether his swing meets the ball early or late, over or under. Tracking starts in mid-2023.

Timing at a glance

2026 · data through 2026-09-27
Perfect contact · 1202 swings
24.9%
Lg median 22.6%Lg best 37.9%
On-time swings
63.8%
Lg median 64.6%Lg best 79.6%
Miss distance on whiffs
3.1 in
Lg median 3.0 inLg best 1.0 in

He squares the ball up about as often as most hitters. When his timing is off, it's usually early, about 12 ms ahead of perfect timing. More of his mishits come from reaching at pitches away from him than from getting tied up inside.

Middle half of the league
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

See where he stands in the box and how his feet are set, next to the league-average setup.

How he sets up

His stance is nearly square, more closed than 91% of hitters (league average 13° open).

Top-down batting stance vs league averagePitcher ↑

Each point is his average setup for one month this season, about a second before each pitch.

Middle half of the leagueLg median
His feetLg avg
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

These are his biggest games this season.

Best games

These are his best games this season, ranked by bases above replacement.

Multi-season trends · Michael Busch

Compared with last season, his HR% is down, his BB% is up, his Barrel% is down, his Hard-hit% is down, his GB% is up and his Pull% is down.

Actual rates show what happened on the field, season by season.