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Entries in Giancarlo Stanton (2)

Wednesday
Sep122012

Giancarlo Stanton is in the zone

Last night, Giancarlo Stanton hit his 34th home run of the season, tying for the second-most homers in a season in Marlins history.

When healthy, Stanton has been a force with a .952 OPS, batting .283 and leading the majors with .600 slugging percentage. 

Take a look at his slugging this season:

It is apparent from the graphic above that pitchers need to fear throwing Stanton a strike.

Look at Stanton's effectiveness at pitches in the strike zone:

His numbers are overwhelming. On pitches in the strike zone, Stanton is hitting .358, slugging .795, with an OPS of 1.161. Against lefties his numbers are even better with pitches in the strike zone hitting .373 and slugging .851 

Here are the Marlins who have hit at least 30 homers in a season:

Rk Player HR Year G AB RBI
1 Gary Sheffield 42 1996 161 519 120
2 Giancarlo Stanton 34 2012 113 413 79
3 Giancarlo Stanton 34 2011 150 516 87
4 Miguel Cabrera 34 2007 157 588 119
5 Dan Uggla 33 2010 159 589 105
6 Hanley Ramirez 33 2008 153 589 67
7 Carlos Delgado 33 2005 144 521 115
8 Miguel Cabrera 33 2005 158 613 116
9 Miguel Cabrera 33 2004 160 603 112
10 Mike Jacobs 32 2008 141 477 93
11 Dan Uggla 32 2008 146 531 92
12 Mike Lowell 32 2003 130 492 105
13 Dan Uggla 31 2009 158 564 90
14 Dan Uggla 31 2007 159 632 88
15 Derrek Lee 31 2003 155 539 92
16 Cliff Floyd 31 2001 149 555 103
17 Preston Wilson 31 2000 161 605 121
Provided by Baseball-Reference.comView Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/12/2012.
Friday
Jun012012

Giancarlo Connecting More With Two Strikes

Giancarlo Stanton's power has been the stuff of scouting lore since his scoreboard-clearing days in the minors. But there has also been concern that one of the trade-offs for those thunderous shots -- lots of swings and misses -- would hold him back in his quest to become an all-around terror at the plate. Unfortunately for pitchers, Stanton has solved his one offensive weakness by connecting more in two-strike counts.

Giancarlo's K rate has decreased from 31.1 percent as a rookie in 2010 to 27.6 percent last year and 22.3 percent in 2012, not far off the 19-20 percent MLB average this season. His OPS+, on the other hand, has skyrocketed from 118 to 141 to 155. For that, he can thank better plate coverage in the upper third of the zone when he doesn't have a strike to spare.

First, here's the average contact rate by pitch location for right-handed hitters in two-strike counts since 2010:

Average contact rate by pitch location for RHB in two-strike counts, 2010-12

Righty batters have whiffed 19 percent of the time they have swung at two-strike pitches thrown high in the zone since 2010. Now, look at Stanton's contact rate with two strikes as a rookie. There was a big cold spot on high-and-away offerings:

Stanton's contact rate by pitch location with two strikes, 2010

Stanton swung through 39 percent of two-strike pitches thrown high, the sixth-highest rate among MLB hitters that season. Last year, he adjusted and started to get his bat on those high-and-away pitches:

Stanton's contact rate by pitch location with two strikes, 2011

His miss rate on high two-strike pitches improved to 32 percent. Giancarlo has connected with even more high two-strike offerings in 2012, save for a small sliver of the zone. His miss rate is down to 27 percent:

Stanton's contact rate by pitch location with two strikes, 2012

For all the deserved praise that Bryce Harper and Mike Trout receive, Stanton has rather quietly cobbled together one of the greatest offensive starts to a career. Ever. Per Baseball-Reference, Stanton has the ninth-best slugging percentage (.537) and the 18th-highest OPS+ (136) among hitters getting at least 1,000 plate appearances through their age-22 season. Now that Stanton has cut the Ks, there's no telling how much pain he'll inflict on pitchers in the coming years.