Nelson Cruz, Minnesota Twins
Although he’s wearing yet another uniform, Nelson Cruz continues raking at the plate. The veteran has helped the Twins jump out to a 4-1 start and take a (very, very early) lead in the American League Central by slashing .333/.500/.611 with one homer and six RBI in 24 plate appearances.
Naturally, Cruz has enjoyed this fast start by doing what he normally does — crushing the offerings of opposing pitchers. He’s put together a 0.0% soft-hit rate and 75.0% hard-hit rate, but one has to wonder…why only one dinger so far if he’s making consistently solid contact?
That’s because of how the rest of his batted-ball profile looks. Cruz’s 33.3% fly-ball rate is slightly down from what he’s done in recent years, along with there being a huge rise in line drives (41.7%). Once that comes down to his career norm (17.6% career line-drive rate) and his fly-ball rate climbs back up (40.8% career rate), the dingers will start flowing again.
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