In what universe... ?

I have never understood what formula they use to determine L vs R balance.

Basically it is what I refer to as "card" OPS out of the 108 chances on the hitters card.

BB/HBP=1, Single=2 (1 for the OB plus 1 for the Total bases), Double=3, Triple=4, HR=5

Compare the left to the right side and it will be about equal

My quick adding gets Engel at 86.4 vs LH and 86.7 vs RH in the 8/8 SI, 8/8HR park. Put him in Dodger stadium and he will lean to RH side a little.

(you can add it easily with the graphs under the cards.)

I agree that's what's on the card, but how does that square with real world performance of OPS .643 vs. LHP and OPS .938 vs. RHP?

I suspect the issue that is causing your surprise in his balance rating is that you expect a batter rated as an E to have similar OPS vs left and right (a ratio of l to r of about 1). When I look at the 2021 cards, I see that the average ratio of ops vs. left to ops vs. right for batters with a balance rating of E is about .86. A 1L is about 1.05 and a 1R is about .82. (These averages were calculated for about 340 players whose splits I pulled from fangraphs).


Edit: Sorry, I found my error and have found that the batters with a balance rating of E do have the expected average ratio of about 1.0. So we're back to your original question of why is Engel an E. There is quite a range of results within the Es though. The most unusual is Oscar Mercado. who has a l to r ratio of 1.46 (.817/.568) and has a balance of E.

I agree that's what's on the card, but how does that square with real world performance of OPS .643 vs. LHP and OPS .938 vs. RHP?

I agree the card itself doesn't make much sense, looking at his actual 2021 stats--the card appears to be not very accurate--I was just responding to how the R/L balance is determined on a given card.