A two-fer! Well, not really, I just forgot to post my analysis of Steve Pearce’s slow start earlier, focusing on how pitchers are changing their approach to him:
This is Steve Pearce’s brand-new baseball game: one in which he sees more and more breaking and offspeed pitches. This is the adjustment opposing teams are making against him, one they’ve been making since 2012.
More recently, I also looked at whether Jimmy Paredes can maintain his scorching-hot start:
There’s no question he’s hitting the ball hard. His hard-hit rate is at 36.8%, the highest of his career by far, and is 26th-best in baseball — ahead of Chris Davis, Buster Posey, andDavid Ortiz (just to cherry pick some names). As a result his ISO is an astounding .329 and his line-drive rate is a superlative 28.8%. The hard-hit rate coupled with his speed has boosted his BABIP to an otherworldly .400.