Welcome to this little discussion on batters who are really putting a charge into the ball. I wrote a similar column a few weeks ago, and thought it would be fun to do something a bit more in-depth.
When analyzing hitters, we love seeing healthy contact. While we're going to look at hard hit rates, do note that there is plenty of context needed aside from simply "Kronk hit ball hard, ball go far, Kronk good player." We're not barbarians here. That said, it does make for a fantastic starting point. Barbarians did some cool things, right?
MLB Statcast data will be used to check in on the average exit velocity leaders for the entire season, and then used to view those who have hit the most 100+ MPH balls at a launch angle greater than 10 degrees. That will allow us to see the power shots and weed out grounders). Lastly, we'll check in on the hard-hit leaders for the past 30 days according to Fangraphs' data. While yearly leaderboards can be helpful, someone's hot streak to open the season is not going to be all that relevant when it's July and they've been batting .100 for the past few weeks, so it's very important to keep time-splits in mind.
Let's see which players are named, while paying special attention to those that make multiple appearances. Without further ado, here's that sweet data (stats as of May 23).
A Few Takeaways
Plenty of power bats populate the list, with hard-hitting grounder specialist Christian Yelich nearly at the top of the list. Cameron Rupp can smash a baseball, but this is why we don't blindly follow any one stat as we know that he isn't good for much else (ditto Tyler Flowers). It raises the interesting point of those catchers who have no speed and a poor average, but will hit the ball hard when contact is made. This isn't accounting for overall contact rates of course, with the presence of many batters who can launch a ball but kill your average. Always seek out context.
What this can do is allow you to validate certain hot streaks when it comes to power, as it's what I personally banked on to hold with Danny Valencia before his torrid past week. That's not meant to be a promise that it always translates, but perhaps some are thinking that Eric Hosmer is getting lucky since he hasn't really performed this well before. Not so fast, as hitting the ball this well and this fast correlates with better batted-ball luck. Create that good fortune!
Let's now look at data from the past 30 days to identify recent trends.
Notable Names From the "Last 14" Hard-Hit Leaderboard
Jung Ho Kang: 52.2 percent - He's come back on the scene with authority, owners should be encouraged. Yes, he will get plenty of rest days at first to ease his transition back into being an everyday player, but his bat is strong and in most leagues his dual SS/3B eligibility is a huge bonus.
Yan Gomes: 42.9 percent - His batting average in his last 30, and last 14, games is exactly .154. That seems odd. His BABIP was .227 in April, and it's a laughable .143 through May thus far. So his increase in hard hits has come with a further drop in batted ball luck. Yes, hitting many fly balls and striking out a lot can hurt your luck profile, but not like this...not like this.
Adam Jones: 42.5 percent - Hopefully you didn't cut ties with him before, as he looks like himself again at the plate after a rib cage injury sidelined him and then may have affected his swing.
Closing Thoughts
There you have it folks, a nice little reference piece for those "who is hitting the ball hard" questions. Use this information as a springboard for further investigations, but these are usually guys that are worth targeting. We use data like this and more to fuel our Waiver Wire Recommendations over at RotoBaller, as well as in our daily baseball chats with live experts (like me!), so come on by anytime.