Huge improvement?

A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show and a reporter indicated that a player did improve a lot last year. In particular, that player hit the ball harder. That makes me wonder which player did hit the ball harder in the 2021 season.

To know a little bit more, I went to the statcast website to see which player’s hard hit rate increased the most last year.

Hare-hit Rate Changes (2020-2021)
Player	2020 (%)	2021 (%)	+
Joey Votto	35.7	53.2	17.5
Tyler O’Neill	39.2	52.2	13
Marcus Semien	28.6	41.3	12.7
Hunter Dozier	30.9	42.2	11.3
Shohei Ohtani	42.7	53.6	10.9
Amed Rosario	33	43.5	10.5
Yandy Diaz	30.9	40.6	9.7
Paul Goldschmidt	40.9	50.6	9.7

In the shortened 2020 season, Joey Votto hit .226/.354/.446 with 11 home runs and 22 RBI. In 2020, Votto’s hard-hit rate was 35.7%. However, he had a great 2021 season and batted .266/.375/.563 with 36 home runs and 99 RBI. A possible reason why Votto had a great season was that his hard-hit rate increased from 35.7% to 53.2%. Votto already turned 38 last September and it will be worth watching whether he will hit the ball harder in 2022. Tyler O’Neill also crushed 30+ home runs in 2021 and it was the first season that he hit 30+ home runs. O’Neill slashed .286/.352/.560 and his hard-hit rate was 52.2% last year. In 2020, O’Neill’s hard-hit rate was 39.2% and he only batted .173/.261/.360. Tyler O’Neill not only bounced back in 2021 but also enjoyed a breakout season. He will be a very important hitter in the Cardinals lineup this year and it will be interesting to see if he can post an over .900 OPS in a single season again. Marcus Semien was selected to the 2021 All-Star game and it’s the first time in his career. Semien had a fantastic 2021 season with 45 home runs and 102 RBI. In 2021, Semien’s hard-hit rate was 41.3%. However, back in 2020, Semien’s hard-hit rate was just 28.6% and he was hitting .223/.305/.374. Hunter Dozier’s hard-hit rate increased from 30.9% to 42.2%. A hard-hit rate of 42.2% is actually higher than Marcus Semien’s hard-hit rate of 41.3%. Nonetheless, Hunter Dozier was only hitting .216/.285/.394 with 16 home runs and 54 RBI. Finally, Shohei Ohtani’s hard-hit rate went up to 53.6% last year. He did make very solid contact in 2021 and that really tells us why he had such an amazing season. Additionally, Ohtani’s hard-hit rate was 50.4% in 2018, his first season in the big league. We shall see whether he will have another season with a hard-hit rate of over 50%. Furthermore, Amed Rosario’s hard-hit rate rose 10.5% last year and he was hitting .282/.321/.409. Hard-hit balls are more likely to generate good outcomes. As we can see, Joey Votto had a resurgent season with a huge increase in hard-hit rate. Additionally, Marcus Semien and Shohei Ohtani each blasted 40+ home runs last season and they each saw a huge increase in hard-hit rate. However, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that a player will have a great season. Hunter Dozier had 42.2% hard-hit balls in 2021. Back in 2019, Dozer’s hard-hit rate was 42.6% and he hit 26 home runs. The stats are similar, but the results are quite different. There must be some other factors that we have to think about. It will be worth watching whether Dozier’s hard-hit rate will remain above 40% this year.