Bryce Harper: A Quick Look
Jonathan Scippa | Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 5:14PM
He only has 68 Major League plate appearances under his belt, but it's not too early to take a look at Bryce Harper's slugging percentage heat maps.
Click image to enlargeHarper hit his second HR yesterday on an Anthony Bass 1-0 fastball that was up and out over the plate:
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Click image to enlargeHarper is currently 6 for 17 on fastballs with three doubles and a home run. His other HR came on a slider low in the strike zone from Padres' Tim Stauffer a day earlier.
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That first HR notwithstanding, pitches down in the zone seem to be the one area that has given Harper some trouble. On low pitches, he's currently hitting .100 (2 for 20, 4 Ks) with a swing and miss rate of 29.8% and a chase% (balls swung at out of the strike zone) of 37.7%.
Again, it's only 16 games worth of data and thus too early to draw any meaningful conclusions. Nonetheless, tonight's starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates Erik Bedard may want to keep the ball down on Harper as much as possible.
Hitting, Home Runs, Offense, PitchFX, heat map | tagged Bryce Harper, Erik Bedard, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals, home runs