As I write this earlier than the beginning of play on Might 23, we’re nearly a 3rd of the way in which by means of the season, and I don’t assume we will keep away from it anymore. Jurickson Profar is batting .339 with a 178 wRC+. Jurickson Profar ranks tenth in baseball with 2.2 WAR. Jurickson Profar, who signed a one-year, $1 million contract on February 24. Jurickson Profar, who till this season averaged 0.8 WAR per 162 video games over 10 seasons, and final season put up -1.7 WAR, making him actually the least priceless participant in baseball. Jurickson Profar leads all certified Nationwide League gamers in on-base share (.431) and ranks within the high 10 in batting common, slugging share (.517), RBI (32), and strikeout charge (13.7%). Jurickson Profar.
(I say certified as a result of LaMonte Wade Jr. and his .481 OBP didn’t have sufficient plate appearances to be among the many league leaders. Naturally, between the time I wrote this put up and now, Wade crossed the qualification threshold, so Profar now ranks second.)
Right here’s one thing I wrote a pair months in the past:
“I think about that everyone right here at FanGraphs generates concepts for articles in several methods. leaderboards is actually a standard methodology. You click on round, sorting by completely different stats till somebody seems to be misplaced. ‘How did you get all the way in which up right here?’ is what the beginning of a FanGraphs article feels like.”
Properly, right here we’re. How the identify of Bip Roberts did Jurickson Profar get all the way in which up right here?
I truthfully don’t know what the Padres have been anticipating once they introduced Profar again, however this couldn’t have been it. Let’s shortly set up simply how out of character this run has been. Not solely has Profar by no means had a 52-game stretch like this, he’s by no means come shut. He’s operating a .949 OPS. Earlier than this season, his greatest 52-game span in a single season got here in 2018, when he ran an .882 OPS. That’s a 67-point distinction. Profar is batting .339, however till this season he’d by no means as soon as had a span this lengthy the place he hit above .300. Right here’s his 52-game rolling wRC+ for his whole profession. His earlier excessive got here on August 2, 2022. It was 31 factors decrease.
Proper off the bat, this graph tells us that after a horrible 2023 season, Profar was due for some regression of the great variety. He got here into this season with a profession wRC+ of 92, and that determine is 97 if we restrict it to his final six seasons. The good guess was that he was going to bounce again at the very least a part of the way in which from final yr’s 76 wRC+ clunker.
There’s additionally one other apparent gimme: Luck. Profar has by no means completed a season with a BABIP above .300, however he’s at the moment at .371, tied for fourth highest in baseball. His .416 wOBA is 38 factors above his .378 xwOBA, a differential that places him within the high 10 p.c of all batters. The two.3-homer distinction between Profar’s 4.7 anticipated house runs and seven precise house runs is the seventh-largest hole in baseball. Profar’s line drive charge, which had by no means risen above 27.7% in a season, is at the moment at 32%. It’s implausible that Profar is squaring the ball up a lot, however line drive charge can also be notoriously fickle. We will and will count on all of those numbers to return again down.
Profar is operating profession bests in each stroll charge, 13.2%, and strikeout charge, 13.7%. With the intention to get a deal with on how that has come about, I in contrast his plate self-discipline numbers from this yr to his common the 4 earlier seasons.
Profar’s Plate Self-discipline
| Season | O-Swing% | Z-Swing% | Swing% | O-Contact% | Z-Contact% | Contact% | Zone% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-2023 | 27.4% | 67.9% | 44.8% | 70.6% | 88.7% | 82.4% | 43.0% |
| 2024 | 28.6% | 70.1% | 45.7% | 66.2% | 91.7% | 82.3% | 41.0% |
As you may see, he’s seeing fewer strikes, and he’s being a bit extra aggressive, particularly within the zone. He’s additionally making extra contact contained in the zone, however not exterior the zone. That final half is unsustainable. Individuals don’t normally get higher at making contact particularly on the pitches that they need to hit anyway. When it does appropriate itself, it’ll lead to decrease stroll and strikeout charges, and extra weakly hit balls in play. Nonetheless, the numbers aren’t shouting something significantly clear. In accordance with Statcast, Profar’s swing/take selections have been value 21 runs, simply the second time in his profession that it’s been a optimistic quantity. That’s the fifth-highest mark in baseball, and it slots him proper between Mookie Betts and Juan Soto. Nevertheless, in keeping with SEAGER, Profar’s swing selections put him within the nineteenth percentile. Proper now, I simply need to see an even bigger pattern measurement.
Profar has all the time been good at making contact, however thus far this season, he’s doing so whereas hitting the ball more durable. That is the place issues get actual. Though it’s propped up by a line drive charge that’s too good to be true, a .378 xwOBA is a big soar for Profar, whose profession better of .338 got here through the quick 2020 season, when he put up a 113 wRC+. The switch-hitting Profar can also be succeeding from each side of the plate, operating a 181 wRC+ as a lefty and a 172 wRC+ as a righty.
This season, Profar’s common exit velocity is a career-high 90.4 mph. Extra importantly, he’s seen an enormous soar in his ninetieth percentile exit velocity, going from 101.8 mph in each 2022 and 2023 to 104.5 this season. That moved him from the twenty fifth percentile to the 58th. His 40.8% hard-hit charge isn’t just a profession greatest, but it surely’s the primary time he’s ever touched the fiftieth percentile. None of this is sufficient to make him an influence hitter or make a .517 slugging share sustainable, however it’s a critical soar, and people sorts of numbers are onerous to pretend. Furthermore, they’re coming after some adjustments to Profar’s swing. From the left aspect of the plate, Profar has modified up his stance considerably, beginning out way more open, with an even bigger bat waggle at a steeper angle. From each side of the plate, he’s gone from nearly no leg kick by any means final yr to bringing his foot a number of inches off the bottom this yr.
Including a leg kick is a standard manner for a participant to attempt to improve energy, and it actually appears to be working for Profar thus far. In accordance with Statcast’s new bat monitoring metrics, Profar is barely above common when it comes to squaring the ball up and barely beneath common when it comes to bat velocity. There’s no strategy to know the place he ranked in earlier seasons, however based mostly on all of this, I don’t assume it could be loopy to offer him the advantage of the doubt and count on a few of this new exit velocity to stay.
There’s one final thing I’d like to think about. It’s attainable that Profar is simply very blissful to be house, or that he occurs to see the ball significantly nicely in San Diego. Profar has a profession 123 wRC+ in Petco Park. Over his time with the Padres from 2020 to 2023 (excluding his time with Colorado in 2023), he’s run a 113 wRC+ at house, in comparison with 96 on the street. Even this season, he’s at 212 at house, in comparison with a (someway) comparatively pedestrian 149 on the street. I wouldn’t put a ton of inventory in that principle, however there’s a chance that Profar simply feels comfy at Petco.
So the place does all of this go away us? It positively doesn’t go away us pondering that Profar is now a true-talent .300/.400/.500 hitter. He’s due for some regression when it comes to BABIP, when it comes to line drive charge, and when it comes to contact charge exterior the zone. Alternatively, it does seem to be he might need discovered a strategy to hit for a bit extra energy with out sacrificing a lot in the way in which of contact capability. We’ll have to attend and see the place precisely that leaves him.