Hitter Average Bat Speed Risers and Fallers — May 13, 2025

Yesterday, I discussed the hitter average bat speed risers and fallers. Thanks to frequent commenter Anon, I discovered that I must have kept the default “Qualified” filter on, which resulted in lots of interesting names being missed. So in today’s review, I’ll discuss the names that would have appeared in yesterday’s list, but were left off. Note that there are lots of bat speed changes, so I’ve kept these posts to changes of at least two miles per hour. Also note that since I relaxed the swing minimum, the lists are now more hand-picked based on fantasy relevance.

Man, if it weren’t for Anon, we all would have missed Jace Jung lapping the field in average bat speed gain! The sample size is relatively small, so it’s possible his bat speed declines a bit from here. However, I’d imagine it wouldn’t significantly change and he’d still end up ranking among the biggest risers by season’s end. What’s crazy here is that he has posted just a .180 wOBA with zero extra-base hits over 40 at-bats. His HardHit% is up, but it hasn’t done him any good. Still, the profile is intriguing, as he walks a ton, doesn’t swing and miss too frequently, and now the bat speed is well above league average. It’s too bad he doesn’t steal bases, as he’ll need that power to blossom to make fantasy owners care. His value spikes in OBP formats.

Welp, if you were wondering how real Ben Rice’s breakout is and/or what’s driving it, look no further than a massive increase in bat speed. Though he sports just 40/50 Game Power and 50/50 Raw power scouting grades, he has always posted strong power numbers in the minors. With the bad speed surge, he is now able to replicate that power in the Majors, as he has recorded elite HardHit% and Barrel% marks. He hasn’t hit lefties at all, so he’s clearly a strong-side platooner, but it’s hard to justify ever not starting him against a right-hander right now.

Brett Baty is back! And he’s already hit three homers in four games since returning. The average bat speed here includes his early work before his demotion, but man, he’s now got that mark into the upper echelon. The spike has raised all his relevant Statcast metrics, as all three of his HardHit%, maxEV and Barrel% are sitting at career bests. The latter is even in the low teens for the first time. Strikeouts have been an issue, but he’s not swinging and missing any more than normal, so that rate should improve. Some of the problem here from a power upside perspective is a low FB%, which is sub-30% for his career and this season. That hasn’t helped his BABIP at all, which is usually the tradeoff, so since it’s not good for his home run potential and hasn’t helped his batting average, something’s gotta give for him to become sustainably fantasy relevant.

Last year’s work by Kameron Misner came over a tiny sample, so perhaps it wasn’t a true indication of his bat speed skills. But right now, he’s a bit above the league average, though none of his Statcast metrics have benefited. He has seemingly hit better than expected, but strikeouts could ultimately become a problem. Still, I like the skill set and his potential for power and speed, though it’s disappointing to see him having attempted just three steals so far.

Can someone tell Nolan Jones that a 2.6 MPH increase in bat speed is a good thing? Sure, he’s out of Coors Field now, but the expectation was that a healthier Jones would still be able to rebound off of last years disappointing performance. Instead, he’s gotten even worse, though his .339 xwOBA suggests he’s suffered from some serious bad luck. Unfortunately, the Guardians might lose their patience waiting for the hits to start falling. It’s just really bizarre as his HardHit% is elite, his Barrel% is in double digits, and yet his HR/FB rate stands at just 8% and ISO at .133. What is going on here?!

After disappointing last year in his first taste of the Majors, Jordan Beck is performing as we hoped he would last season. A nice bat speed increase has helped him rediscover his power and has fueled an elite 19.1% Barrel%. The strikeouts are still coming, but everything else looks good here for a power/speed combo plate with an assist to Coors Field. Interestingly, he has actually posted a slightly higher wOBA on the road this year than at Coors, but I wouldn’t bet on that continuing. If you have a reasonable alternative, I’d still be sitting him during full week road trips, which is precisely what I’m doing in my 12-team mixed league.

Josh Rojas is a good example of “there’s only one direction to move, and it’s up!” after posting one of the weakest bat speed marks last year. It’s nice to see an increase this season, but that still ranks as well below league average. Also, this has come over just 24 plate appearances, so we’ll see if this actually holds up all year. He’s shown a touch of power and above average speed in the past, so in a hitter friendly home park, he’s a reasonable AL-Only option, particularly in leagues that use OBP.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. On numerous occasions in my fantasy leagues, I’ve picked up an injury replacement and struck gold. Had the player not hit the IL, I would have never rostered the replacement. This is particularly true in mono leagues like AL Tout Wars. I picked up Addison Barger a couple of weeks ago to replace the demoted MJ Melendez, and while he only earned a start here and there, he has become the team’s starting third baseman on the strong side of a platoon. He hasn’t exactly hit much yet, but the metrics look super promising. A 52.3% HardHit%, 116.5 MPH maxEV, and 13.6% Barrel% are all either elite or well above average and suggest a power explosion could be imminent. He has also cut down on his strikeout rate, so he might not even be a batting average killer. He looks like an ideal buy in deep leagues.

Let’s now move on to the fallers who missed yesterday’s list.

With Jeff McNeil injured and now playing all over the diamond, Luisangel Acuña has become the Mets starting second baseman. It’s too bad his bat speed has fallen, though I’m more surprised it was at the level he posted in 2024 to begin with! Then again, it came over just 40 plate appearances, so it’s likely it would have declined with more swings. Luckily, Acuña isn’t exactly a power hitter and wasn’t expected to be, so a bat speed decline isn’t as ominous as it might be for the last two names on this list. Of course, I’d still expect his first home run any game now as both his HardHit% and maxEV are decent enough.

It’s crazy to find Javier Báez’s name on the fallers list when he has experienced a renaissance so far this year, posting his highest wOBA since…2018! Sadly, it all looks like smoke and mirrors. His HardHit% is at its lowest since 2017, maxEV the lowest of his career, and Barrel% the third lowest of his career. His season has been built entirely on a .380 BABIP, which seems hard to do when it comes with just a 15.9% LD%. He has posted a .348 wOBA versus jsut a .288 xwOBA, so it’s likely he’s going to fall back to Earth soon. Once that happens, his playing time could dry up, especially as a number of Tigers hitters are set to return from the IL over the coming weeks.

Jasson Domínguez’s recent three home run game really turned around his season and gave him a bit more job security, as Ben Rice’s breakout and Trent Grisham’s resurgence have cut into his playing time. Unfortunately, his bat speed is down, but his Statcast metrics still look pretty good, though I would have liked to see his Barrel% remain in double digits. Strikeouts have been an issue, requiring a .338 BABIP just to bat .250. He has doubled his FB% from last year, which is a good sign for his home run potential, but also makes it tougher to maintain that elevated BABIP. He’s a tough one as his potential for stardom in the future is obvious, but the Yankees simply have too many good hitters right now. As a result, his playing time outlook will continue to look cloudy unless he keeps hitting and avoids the poor defense that has led to late inning replacements in the field, costing him PAs.

You definitely wouldn’t know it based on his power output before hitting the IL, but Mike Trout’s bat speed dipped, which could be worrisome for the 33-year-old. Even with the reduced bat speed, he still managed a HardHit% right at his career average, a maxEV that ranked second highest since 2019, and a Barrel% above his elite career average. So clearly it didn’t affect his power. Of course, he managed just a .159 BABIP, plus he had posted a career worst strikeout rate and SwStk%, so perhaps we did see some effects of the bat speed loss. Now on the IL with a bruised knee, it’s anyone’s guess how his performance will be impacted when he eventually returns.