Sarris: Jose Altuve, power hitter
From SABR member Eno Sarris at FanGraphs on April 21, 2016:
He’s listed at a generous 5-foot-6, and he’s never hit more than 15 homers, so when you look up and see that Jose Altuve has hit five home runs already this year, you really just want to shrug and sing a song of sample size. But if you’ve been watching for longer, you’ll have noticed that this has been a long time coming, and that under the hood we find reasons to believe that this young man is just growing into his power stroke.
Last year, Altuve added a leg kick that improved his ability to leverage his frame into more power. “I’m hitting the ball harder, not as many singles, more power,” he told me last year when we talked about the change. Starting the process earlier with a leg kick also helped him recognize pitches earlier, which helped keep his strikeout rate down even as he hit for more power.
A quick look at what the change has looked like for Altuve.
Read the full article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jose-altuve-power-hitter/
Originally published: April 22, 2016. Last Updated: April 22, 2016.