Hardy Hammering High Pitches

While the Baltimore Orioles' offense ranks toward the bottom of the AL again this season, no one can blame J.J. Hardy. The 28-year-old shortstop, picked up from the Twins this past offseason for a pair of relievers, is hitting .301/.366/.530. That blows away the collective .260/.316/.373 line that MLB shortstops have posted this season. Hardy is enjoying an offensive resurgence by hammering the high stuff.

First, here's the average in-play slugging percentage for MLB hitters on pitches located in the upper third of the zone:

The overall MLB slugging percentage on high pitches (including balls not put in play) is .378. Now, here's how Hardy is faring against the high stuff:

Hardy's overall slugging percentage on high pitches is .826 in 2011. Only Toronto's Adam Lind has done more damage when a pitcher places one high in the zone. For comparison, Hardy slugged .367 on high pitches last season with Minnesota.

A major reason for Hardy's power surge this year is that he has cut his percentage of ground balls hit, especially on high pitches. Hardy hit a worm-burner 41 percent of the time against high stuff in 2010. This year, he has chopped the ball into the ground on high pitches around 23 percent of the time (the MLB average is about 35 percent).

The free agent deals handed out to Derek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero haven't work out for the O's, and trade acquisition Mark Reynolds has slugged at the plate but stumbled in the field. Hardy, however, has shined in his new digs during his walk year. If Baltimore decides to make him available, expect Hardy to be a hot commodity on the trade market.

Bartolo Colon's Heat Map: Yankees vs. Orioles 5/18

Bartolo Colon threw 87 pitches yesterday, and while he didn't get the win, he held the Orioles to 3 hits over 8 innings. He threw mostly fastballs (90.8%), a few sliders, and one changeup according to PitchFX data. His fastball averaged a -5.8 BrkX (horizontal movement from spin) reading and 8.5 BrkZ (vertical movement from spin) reading, both slightly better than league average. He yielded 10 ground balls, 5 line drives, and 4 fly balls, while striking out 7. And as you can see, he located his pitches extremely well, avoiding the middle of the plate while jamming lefties up and in. He also threw to the outside edge of the plate to righties and lefties, recording 5 of his strikeouts on pitches away, 4 of them looking.

Chasing Pitches

Chase Percentage Ranking through April 16

No surprise that Vlad Guerrero (BAL) tops the list for highest percent of swings on pitches out of the strike zone. Even the greater than 15% gap between Vlad and Trumbo in second should not come as a shock to anyone who's seen at least a handful of the slugger's ABs. However, over the last three years, Vlad has averaged around a 44% swing percentage on pitches out of the zone. So, as the season progresses, expect him to rein it in a little.

WOBA Ranking on pitches out of the Strike Zone through April 16

None of the players in the top 10 in chase percentage made the top 10 in wOBA on pitches out of the zone. In fact, none appeared in the top 50, and only Pablo Sandoval (SF) made the top 100 at #87.