Andrés Giménez: Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Andrés Giménez is known for his elite defence. Since Giménez became an everyday player in 2022, Dansby Swanson is the only infielder to post higher OAA and FRV marks. On the basepaths, of 258 qualified players from 2022-2025, Giménez ranks 25th according to FanGraphs BsR. Another area where Giménez ranks among MLB’s best is getting hit by pitches. Consider Table 1.

Starting in 2022, Giménez has been hit by a pitch 68 times, second only to Ty France. Looking at PA/HBP, his 29.46 score (as of June 21) ranks fifth lowest. In other words, only four qualified batters have averaged fewer plate appearances before getting hit by a pitch than Giménez. Against right-handed pitchers, he slots in at number five with his 47 HBP (17th in PA/HBP). When facing left-handers, Giménez has absorbed 21 HBPs, MLB’s highest mark and good for the eighth-lowest PA/HBP (26.43). Whether a righty or a lefty is on the mound, Giménez’s motto has been, Hit Me with Your Best Shot. 

An interesting nugget is the difference between Giménez's HBP scores in counts with fewer than two strikes and with two strikes. Consider Table 2. With fewer than two strikes against him, Giménez has 22 HBPs, which slots in as MLB’s 22nd-highest number since 2022. However, with two strikes, no player has more HBPs than Giménez. For context, I calculated Giménez’s on-base percentage if those 46 HBPs with two strikes were strikeouts. For the 2022-2025 period, his official OBP was .321. If the 46 HBPs were strikeouts instead, his OBP would be .298. That is a notable OBP reduction.

Note that I did not calculate PA/HBP for all hitters within the two strikes/fewer than two strikes split because it was too cumbersome to incorporate FanGraphs' (HBP) and Baseball Savant’s (strike counts) data.

For those interested, here is a link to MLB’s all-time leaders in the hit-by-pitch category.

So, why does Giménez rank so high in the HBP metric? No, I do not believe pitchers dislike Giménez. Perhaps the answer lies in his batting stance. Welcome to a new feature from Baseball Savant!

A user can select a player of their choice and the desired period (from 2023 onwards). Below is a screenshot of Giménez’s batting stance for the 2023-2025 period. I encourage the reader to take advantage of Baseball Savant’s Batting Stance tool. One intriguing element is that users can see how a player’s feet move from his batting stance to the pitch release and then to the bat-ball intercept.

Let’s see if the batting stance data explains why pitches hit Giménez at a high rate. Behold Table 3.

I selected a small sample of left-handed batters to determine if the batting stance data offered clues regarding why Giménez excels at getting hit by pitches. Unfortunately, there is no apparent explanation. Giménez and Bryce Harper have similar depth in the box, and off plate and between feet distances, but quite different stance angles and PA/HBP records. Except for the distance between their feet, Josh Naylor’s characteristics are like Giménez’s stance details. Furthermore, I performed regression analysis for the 2023-2025 period and found limited correlation between PA/HBP data and the listed stance datapoints. The lack of a meaningful correlation could be due to a small sample size. Perhaps there is no meaningful relationship between getting hit by a pitch and batting stance characteristics.

Hmm. Perhaps video can help explain the attraction between Giménez's body parts and pitched baseballs.

This first clip is from the June 19, 2025, game against Arizona. The pitcher was right-handed, and there were two strikes:

In the case below, the pitcher was a left-hander:

The final clip captures one of the times Giménez was hit when he played for Cleveland:

These three clips show that Giménez does not shy away from inside pitches; he stands his ground and apparently is unafraid to get hit. Other than Giménez’s willingness to be hit, particularly with two strikes, I can offer no other evidence-based reasons why Giménez has been one of the leaders in the hit-by-pitch department. Perhaps it is a gift, just like it was for a famous ballplayer from the past. 

The Last Word
Giménez is an elite defender and an excellent baserunner. Another noteworthy aspect of his play is that he has a top-tier record when it comes to HBPs. He is particularly “hittable” when the count reaches two strikes. Concerning why pitches hit Giménez at a high rate, there are probably multiple contributing factors. One is an apparent willingness to stand his ground and absorb a pitch. In summary, concerning Giménez’s attitude at the plate, Pat Benatar was prescient with her song, Hit Me with Your Best Shot!