Tommy Pham, Tampa Bay Rays
Of the hitters we’ll be talking about on this list, Pham may be the most surprising. He shouldn’t be based off his recent season-long performances, though.
Pham posted a 35.5% hard-hit rate in his breakout 2017 campaign, followed by a 48.5% rate in 2018. So far this season, that number has settled in at 78.6%. The upward trend is strong, but it hasn’t translated into on-field results yet.
The outfielder does own a 124 wRC+ through 30 plate appearances but still hasn’t recorded an extra-base hit for Tampa Bay in 2019. His fly-ball rate is rather low at the moment (14.3%), but it’s also accompanied by 42.9% line-drive and ground-ball rate. Despite a 66.7% hard-hit rate on line drives, his BABIP currently stands at .500 with a 218 wRC+ (those numbers were .635 and 289, respectively, at the end of last season).
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