​​Hit harder?

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a game on TV. A player was ready to pinch hit, on the screen, it clearly showed that his hard-hit rate changes. Back in 2023, his hard-hit rate was below 35%. This season, his hard-hit rate is over 40%.

 

Seeing an increase in hard-hit rate is usually a great thing for the team and the player. After watching the game, I began to think about a question. So far this season, which players have hit the ball harder as that player does?

 

To solve my doubts, I checked on the statcast website.

 

Hard-hit Rate Changes (2023~2024.07.27)
Player	Hard-hit % (23)	Hard-hit % (~24.07.27)	+
Jake Meyers	27.9	40.9	13.0
Lars Nootbaar	37.8	50.3	12.5
Cal Raleigh	41.0	52.7	11.7
Josh Rojas	28.9	39.7	10.8
Ketel Marte	42.8	53.3	10.5
Jurickson Profar	31.8	42.2	10.4
Enrique Hernandez	33.7	43.5	9.8
Ha-Seong Kim	26.7	35.7	9.0

 

Back in 2023, Jake Meyers played 112 games for the Astros. He hit .227/.296/.382 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI. His OPS was below .700 and a main problem was that he couldn’t hit the ball hard. Last season, his hard-hit rate was below 30%. Nonetheless, this season, it seems that he hits the ball harder and his hard-hit rate increases to 40.9%. And now, he slashes .241/.306/.417 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI.

 

In 2023, Lars Nootbaar’s hard-hit rate was below 40%. However, he had an OPS of .785, which wasn’t bad. Injuries did bother him this season and he only played 54 games for the Cardinals thus far. Nootbaar’s hard-hit rate is above 50%, but his OPS is .729 now.

 

Last season, Cal Raleigh slashed .232/.306/.456 with 30 home runs and 75 RBI over 145 games. Raleigh’s hard-hit rate was over 40% in 2023. A hard-hit rate over 40% wasn’t bad. But this season, he hits balls even harder. Raleigh now has a hard-hit rate over 50%. Nonetheless, his OPS of .727 is lower than his OPS of .762 in 2023. It’s worth noting that Raleigh’s strikeout rate increases from 27.8% to 30.9%.

 

In addition, Josh Rojas now has an OPS of .670. An OPS below .700 doesn’t look good, but the good news is that his hard-hit rate increases from 28.9% to 39.7%.

Meanwhile, Ketel Marte did hit well in 2023, slashing .276/.358/.485 with 25 home runs and 82 RBI across 150 games. His hard-hit rate was over 40% last season and this season, he’s even better. So far this season, Marte’s hard-hit rate is over 50% and he’s an All-Star. He bats .296/.366/.536 with 23 home runs and 68 RBI thus far.

Finally, Jurickson Profar has been fantastic this season. He now hits .304/.392/.495 with 18 home runs and 66 RBI. He was selected to the All-Star game for the first time in his career. Last season, Profar’s OPS was only .689 and his hard-hit rate was 31.8%. In 2024, he hits the ball much harder with a hard-hit rate over 40%. His OPS is over .800 thus far. Moreover, Kike Hernandez’s hard-hit rate increases from 33.7% to 43.5%. Ha-Seong Kim’s hard-hit rate goes up to 35.7%. But his OPS is below .700.

Hitting balls hard is important to MLB hitters. So far this season, we’ve seen that some players hit balls harder and have a good season. For example, Ketel Marte’s hard-hit rate goes up to more than 50% and he’s selected to the All-Star game. Furthermore, with an increase in hard-hit rate, Jurickson Profar has a great 2024 season. Nonetheless, an increase in hard-hit rate does guarantee good results. There are other factors that might influence the outcomes. Nevertheless, let’s keep watching if those players can continue hitting the ball hard in the second half of the season.