On Sunday night, Baseball Savant rolled out their latest set of new data, offering us a new kind of insight into baseball. The numbers indicate where a batter sets up in the batter's box, how they orient their body, and where they make contact with the ball. It's immensely valuable, because it lets us see how hitters move en route to the ball—not just their bats, but the players themselves. Over time, this will unfold a whole new dimension of understanding of the game.
For now, though, it's also just lots of fun. For instance: We can now visualize what I call The Lew Step—Royce Lewis's near-unique two-phase stride. It's a delicate hitting signature, but when it's right, it can be lethal, and these data help us see how unusual it really is.
But hey!, you say. This article didn't bill itself as being about Lewis. And you're right. It billed itself as being about Ryan Jeffers, because it is. Of all the early glimpses into the processes of Twins hitters from this new trove of information, it's Jeffers who stands out the most.
Whatever problems they did have at the plate in 2024, it's hard to criticize the Twins' two-strike approach. They had seven different batters who got to two strikes in at least 160 plate appearances and had an OPS at least 16% better than the league's average in those counts. That doesn't mean any of them were truly productive with two strikes, of course. It's extremely hard to do that. League-wide, batters hit .168/.244/.264 with two strikes on them in 2024. Strikeouts are a major risk, of course, but hitters also tend to be more defensive in those moments, and therefore, they generate less power. The ceiling is very low.
Jeffers, however, batted .179/.240/.350 in those seemingly desperate counts. Adjusting for parks and other factors, that was 31% better than average. How did he do it? By transforming. You hear hitters talk about spreading out in the box a bit with two strikes all the time—and fascinatingly, most of them do so, this new data shows. Most of them do it by about an inch, though. Not Jeffers.
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The 22-year-old went 2-for-5 on Friday night, his fourth straight multi-hit game. Heading into the week, he was hitting .246/.328/.404 (.732). Four games later, he is hitting .303/.361/.447 (.808).
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