Ward's decrease in swing decision runs was due to an even more passive approach at the plate than he already had. The increased takes were essentially all on pitches in the zone.

My AFL plate discipline app now includes league average values for easy reference.

So it's a little less than 2 homers a year per lineup spot moved up (Schwarber, Ohtani, and Raleigh are around 12 PAs/HR this year.) Not a huge difference, but it doesn't hurt.

I've been wondering why there are so many 50+ HR hitters lately, and moving up in the order might be part of the explanation. More ABs, more HRs.

It looks like his knee injury (which reportedly occurred around the end of the May) may have had an impact on contact quality. Early in the season he traded some contact to hit for more power, but the power evaporated after the injury.

Harper's SDr was slightly above expected, but I'm thinking Nick Gonzales's approach deserves a closer look!

I think his contact profile helps make this work as well. Too much contact with this many swings and you're putting too many suboptimal pitches in play. Even better for Harper, his Zone Contact% is around league average while Chase Contact% is a decent bit below league average.