Skip to main content
MLB Deserve-to-Win
← All hitters·All pitchers

César Prieto

2026
Cardinals· 3B · bats L · throws R· 31 PA

Grade

How good he's been, and at what
Dbetter than 31% of hitters at creating bases
Free-Swinging Contact

Bat-to-ball first, seldom walks, light power.

One of the toughest bats to strike out

César Prieto rarely strikes out — less often than 81% of qualified hitters. Walks are scarce, though — only 2% of qualified hitters draw them less often. Early-season read — only 31 plate appearances so far.

31 plate appearances · data through 2026-08-22.

How to read this chart
Each spoke is a skill estimate adjusted for sample size — not raw season stats — so farther out = better. Spokes are the metric itself; ↓ marks a rate where a LOWER number is better. Percentiles vs. 499 qualified hitters — 50+ plate appearances. He hasn't reached that bar himself, so he is measured against them rather than counted among them.

Plays like…

Same archetype, nearest by rate — the hitters whose profile looks most like this one.

Jake McCarthyRockiesMichael MasseyRoyalsGraham PauleyMarlinsTommy EdmanDodgers

Hitter type

What kind of hitter he is, next to the league

Platoon splits

How he fares against lefties and righties

Platoon splits (EB/PA)

Better vs RHP than vs LHP by 0.080 EB/PA (modeled).

50% probable range: +0.060 to +0.101

vs LHP3 PA0.353

vs LHP: shrunk estimate 0.353 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.321 to 0.384, based on 3 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.033 EB/PA. League median vs LHP: 0.425 EB/PA.

Raw vs LHP rate (0.033) is off this scale — small samples like this are exactly why the shrunk estimate (the dot) is the trustworthy number, not the raw one.

vs RHP28 PA0.433

vs RHP: shrunk estimate 0.433 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.405 to 0.460, based on 28 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.338 EB/PA. League median vs RHP: 0.436 EB/PA.

0.3040.3470.3900.4330.476
← worsebetter →
Above league medianBelow50% probable rangeHis raw rateMiddle half of the league

About the typical split for a lefty bat (median 0.080). Against lefties he sits below the league median — a genuine platoon vulnerability.

He sits in the league's bottom quarter vs lefties and the league's middle half vs righties.

How to read this chart
  • Tap or hover any mark for its number, or tab to a row for all of them.
  • His raw rate is the unshrunk number against that hand — small samples make it noisy, which is why the model pulls his estimate toward a more trustworthy value.
  • “Middle half of the league” is the 25th–75th percentile of all hitters against that hand.
  • Shrunk splits beat raw splits decisively at low PA counts and converge with them as playing time builds — individual platoon gaps need roughly 1,000+ PA vs a hand before the raw number alone can be trusted.

How he hits

What happens when he puts a ball in play

He hits the ball to the pull side most often, and that's where his hardest contact goes.

Best batted balls

Where every ball César Prieto put in play landed this season.
hit · out
EBlowhigh
vs Yohan RamírezOutRobbed
EV 103 mph · LA 26° · EB 3.5
05/20 vs Pirates
vs Alan RangelOut
EV 80 mph · LA 25° · EB 0.9
08/10 vs Phillies
vs Zack WheelerSingle
EV 74 mph · LA 18° · EB 0.9
08/12 vs Phillies
vs Lucas ErcegOut
EV 109 mph · LA 14° · EB 0.8
05/17 vs Royals
vs Kervin CastroOut
EV 95 mph · LA 9° · EB 0.5
08/05 vs Yankees

Luck check

Robbed once — a crushed ball the simulator scores as a near-certain hit that died in a glove.

vs Yohan RamírezOutRobbed
EV 103 mph · LA 26° · EB 3.5
05/20 vs Pirates

1 lucky hit — a ball with a hit probability under 20% that found grass.

vs Ryan FeltnerSingleLucky
EV 48 mph · LA -55° · EB 0.1 · xBA .075
08/07 vs Rockies
How to read this chart
Dot color is estimated bases (EB) — what the contact was worth, regardless of what the defense did with it. 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.

Best games

His biggest games this year

Best games

His best games this season by bases above replacement.