Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs
wRC+ through April 30th: 143
wRC+ since May 1st: 80
Between 2017 and 2018, Heyward hit just 19 home runs in 970 plate appearances. Through 250 trips to the plate in 2019, he’s already smacked 10 dingers. However, his production has just been a little uneven, as we can see from the above numbers.
The power hasn’t dropped off too substantially (five homers in each period of time), but his plate-discipline numbers have changed drastically. After having a higher walk rate (16.8%) than strikeout rate (13.9%) through the end of April, those numbers have flipped (10.7% walk rate, 18.8% strikeout rate since the start of May).
Those latest numbers aren’t terrible, and he even saw improvements in his hard-hit rate, line-drive rate, and ground-ball rate during this time. Unfortunately, his BABIP took a dive from .303 to .240. He’s also been chasing balls more often, swinging at strikes less often, and making less contact in general (84.7% to 79.6%).
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