3 stats that prove Mariners shortstop JP Crawford's 2023 season wasn't a fluke

Driveline changing the way he handles secondary pitches

This all could stem back to Driveline, and the work that Crawford was able to put in with them had a massive impact on how he handled himself at the plate. You can see that in both of the earlier slides. Think about the basics in baseball, and Crawford had them covered. Don't swing at bad pitches, swing at strikes, and hit the ball hard. Ding. Ding. Ding. He was doing all three.

He got better at hitting too, though. Crawford destroyed fastballs last season. I'm not saying that just to say it either. JP was T-9th in all of baseball in Run Value against fastballs with a mark of 17. This says it better than I can, but essentially, Run Value adds up every occurence when you finished with that pitch, and gives you the run total. So all year, JP Crawford was a +17 total on fastballs. That's really, really good.

It was also a big increase over prior years. Going back, he had marks of -4, -7, and -1 against fastballs. Again, massive increase. It wasn't just fastballs, either. JP did struggle against sliders in 2023 (which oddly was his first negative season ever against them), but had big positives against sinkers, changeups, and curveballs. His total Run Value was 25, compared to -4, -4, and -1 over the previous three years.

Sliders were his second most seen pitch, but sinkers were 3rd, changeups 4th, and curves 6th, adding up to 30.7% of what he saw. Driveline made a difference, and JP Crawford was able to be one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball in 2023. All these stats indicate that there is a good chance he continues on, and proves that 2023 wasn't a fluke, but the start of something new.