Prince Fielder's HR off Tommy Hanson

In Wednesday's game between Milwaukee and Atlanta, Brewers' slugger Prince Fielder took Tommy Hanson deep in the 4th inning.  It was the second lefty HR yielded by Hanson this season, and the 7th HR for Fielder.

Hanson attempted to work Fielder very carefully and for the most part his pitch location wasn't bad.  He started Fielder off with a fastball that just caught the low outside corner for a strike, followed by a curve that he seemed to get a bad release on, floating it up and away for a ball.  His next pitch was a fastball outside of the strike zone that Fielder fouled off.  On his fourth and final pitch, Hanson tried to slip a slider down and in on Fielder.  However, he didn't get it down as much as I suspect he wanted to, and it came into the bottom portion of Fielder's power zone.

Tommy Hanson vs. Prince Fielder 4/5/2011, 4th Inning Prince Fielder's SLG% heat map Data from 2008 to Present (Click to enlarge)

From the video, you can see that Fielder was sitting on an off-speed pitch.  Since his debut in 2009, Hanson has gone to either his curveball or slider with two strikes 50.2% of the time.  On 1-2 counts, that number jumps to 58.7%.  It wasn't necessarily a bad strategy for Hanson.  In fact, when throwing the slider with two strikes, he's held opposing batters to a .193 batting average with a .272 slugging percentage.  And before yesterday, he'd yet to yield a HR on any of the previous 460 two strike sliders he's thrown.

But this particular slider was thrown to a spot in Fielder's wheelhouse, and he was waiting for it.  Just a great piece of hitting from an excellent power hitter.

Top Two Strike Hitters

Top Two Strike Hitters by wOBA (Click to enlarge) (All Games through April 25th)

So far this season, Prince Fielder(MIL)is mashing with two strikes. While he does have a pair of two-strike homers this season, it's his league leading 7 two-strike doubles that have separated him from the rest. He's making great contact with a 35.7% line drive rate with two strikes. That's nearly double his overall line drive rate since 2008. And all 10 of his line drives this season have resulted in hits, 5 for doubles.

InDepth Spotlight: Paul Maholm vs. Ryan Braun

2008-Present (Click to enlarge image)

Paul Maholm (0-1, 2.19 ERA) takes the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates today at PNC Park.  Since 2008, the lefty has held opposing right-handed batters to .246 average on his curve, arguably the best pitch in his arsenal.  Ryan Braun has hit .229 against lefty curves since 2008, his lowest average among all pitches with a minimum of 50 pitches seen.  That pitch might be the key for Maholm as he tries to retire the powerful Braun in tonight's game.

Braun generates most of his power up in the zone, so Maholm would do well to avoid leaving his fastball up as well, especially considering righties have hit .316 with a .490 slugging percentage off it since 2008.