Brooklyn-based Jay Jaffe is a senior writer for FanGraphs, the author of The Cooperstown Casebook (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017) and the creator of the JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score) metric for Hall of Fame analysis. He founded the Futility Infielder website (2001), was a columnist for Baseball Prospectus (2005-2012) and a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated (2012-2018). He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011, and a Hall of Fame voter since 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jay_jaffe... and BlueSky @jayjaffe.bsky.social.

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PressXToJason
14 days ago

RE: Julio Rodriguez, I swear I saw a video detailing his swing mechanics changes going back to post-ASB last season, where he’s lifted his elbow more in his load. Obviously, we don’t have swing speed for 2022-2023, but his swing speed is 95th percentile in 2024, alongside drops in max and average exit velocity, hard hit%, and xwOBA, xSLG, etc., and a near-identical xBA. I wonder if he’s swinging harder to make up for the load change, and counterintuitively losing power.

EDIT: His barrel% has dropped from 90% to 77% to ~66% from 2022-2024.

Last edited 14 days ago by PressXToJason
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