Marwin Gonzalez, Minnesota Twins
wRC+ through April 30th: 34
wRC+ through May 1st: 130
Gonzalez’s numbers through his first 264 plate appearances with the Twins don’t look at all that impressive (.255/.323/.420 with a 98 wRC+). But it’s a huge relief based on how much he struggled out of the gates.
The switch-hitter has accomplished this with a huge increase in line drives (14.0% through the end of April, 29.6% since the start of May) and an obscene amount of hard contact (35.1% to 50.0%). Even with a ground-ball rate up above 50.0%, it would’ve been hard for Gonzalez to sustain a .200 BABIP. He’s making up for lost time since May 1st with a .358 BABIP, though.
He’s actually gotten more aggressive at the plate after that tough March/April, but it’s mostly been on pitches outside the strike zone. Gonzalez’s chase rate has increased from 28.2% to 34.7%, while his swing rate on strikes jumped from 65.3% to 68.1%. His contact rate in both of these situations have gone down despite the increased aggression, but that’s something a super-high hard-hit rate can mask.
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