"The greatest hitter living..."

The WSJ has a fantastic article today about Miguel Cabrera and hitting in baseball. It has a number of interesting facts and great quotes, but the section below is my favorite:

"The greatest hitter living can't hit bad balls well," [Ted] Williams wrote. "A good hitter can hit a pitch that is over the plate better than a great batter can hit a questionable ball."

Unless the great batter is Cabrera. This season his slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats) is a frightening .590 on pitches that pass between him and the inside edge of the plate. That is, inside pitches that shouldn't be swung at, never mind hit.

The downside? You're not going to learn much that will help your players hit better because the big takeaway is that Cabrera is a freak.