Soriano Slugging, Hacking Way to History

(All stats through Friday's games)

The injury-ravaged New York Yankees have hit the fewest right-handed home runs (24) in the majors this season, and they rank just 25th in on-base percentage (.306). Well, the Bombers at least addressed one of those issues by throwing lots of cash ($17.7 million of the $24.5 million he's owed through 2014) at the Cubs to acquire Alfonso Soriano. The 37-year-old is still slugging, but he's drawing walks at his lowest clip in over a decade and is well on his way to making power-hitting, out-making history.

Soriano, who began his career in pinstripes from 1999-2003, has clubbed 17 home runs this season. That's now second best in the clubhouse, behind Robinson Cano's 21. But Soriano has also drawn just 15 free passes. While he has always been a free swinger, Soriano's walk rate (3.9% of his plate appearances) is his lowest since 2002 and his .284 on-base percentage is a career low.

If Soriano keeps going deep (he's on pace for 27 homers) and drawing walks at this pace, he'll join an infamous list of high-slugging, low-OBP hitters that includes the likes of Dave Kingman, Joe Pepitone and teammate Vernon Wells. Should Soriano hit 25 homers while remaining such a prodigious out-maker, he'll post one of the 20 lowest on-base percentages ever among hitters reaching that big fly milestone.

Lowest OBP during 25+ home run season

Source: Baseball-Reference.com

Soriano's has an ultra-low OBP for two main reasons. He's even more of a hacker this season, with his chase rate climbing from 36% in 2012 to 41% in 2013 -- only San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval has been jumpier against pitches thrown out of the strike zone. Soriano also doesn't seem to instill as much fear in pitchers these days. He is seeing more pitches thrown over the plate (46%) than he ever has during the Pitch F/X era (2008-2013).

With power but also a paltry OBP, Soriano has essentially been a league-average hitter this season (99 OPS+). That might beat playing Wells every day, but Soriano's Kingman-esque production is a far cry from his early glory days in the Bronx.

30-homer hitters

Last night, Alfonso Soriano and Adam Jones became the 15th and 16th players this season to hit 30 homers.

Rk	Player	HR
1	Josh Hamilton	42
2	Miguel Cabrera	41
3	Ryan Braun	40
4	Edwin Encarnacion	40
5	Curtis Granderson	39
6	Adam Dunn	39
7	Josh Willingham	35
8	Giancarlo Stanton	34
9	Adrian Beltre	33
10	Jay Bruce	33
11	Mark Trumbo	31
12	Robinson Cano	30
13	Albert Pujols	30
14	Alfonso Soriano	30
15	Adam Jones	30
16	Adam LaRoche	30

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

 

This was the first time for the right-handed Jones hitting 30 homers.

Jones against righties:

Jones against righties has hit .283, slugged .512 and hit 23 of his 30 homers. he has struck out 80 times.

Jones against lefties:

Against lefties, Jones has .299, slugged .486 and only hit seven homers. He has whiffed 30 times.

Soriano has now hit at least 30 homers in a season six times.

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	HR ▾
2006	30	WSN	159	728	647	46
2002	26	NYY	156	741	696	39
2003	27	NYY	156	734	682	38
2005	29	TEX	156	682	637	36
2007	31	CHC	135	617	579	33
2012	36	CHC	139	568	521	30

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 9/20/2012.

 

Soriano is now tied with Gil Hodges for 71st place on the all-time HR list, with 370.

Soriano has similar numbers to Jones homering eight times off lefties and 22 times off righties.

Active players with at least four 30+ homer seasons:

	Yrs
Alex Rodriguez	14	Ind. Seasons
Albert Pujols	12	Ind. Seasons
Jim Thome	12	Ind. Seasons
Mark Teixeira	8	Ind. Seasons
Adam Dunn	8	Ind. Seasons
Miguel Cabrera	8	Ind. Seasons
Jason Giambi	8	Ind. Seasons
Paul Konerko	7	Ind. Seasons
Andruw Jones	7	Ind. Seasons
Ryan Howard	6	Ind. Seasons
David Ortiz	6	Ind. Seasons
Alfonso Soriano	6	Ind. Seasons
Lance Berkman	6	Ind. Seasons
Todd Helton	6	Ind. Seasons
Chipper Jones	6	Ind. Seasons
Dan Uggla	5	Ind. Seasons
Prince Fielder	5	Ind. Seasons
Ryan Braun	5	Ind. Seasons
Carlos Lee	5	Ind. Seasons
Adrian Gonzalez	4	Ind. Seasons
Jason Bay	4	Ind. Seasons
Aramis Ramirez	4	Ind. Seasons

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

All-time leaders in 30+ homer seasons:

Rk		Yrs	From	To
1	Hank Aaron	15	1957	1973	Ind. Seasons
2	Alex Rodriguez	14	1996	2010	Ind. Seasons
3	Barry Bonds	14	1990	2004	Ind. Seasons
4	Mike Schmidt	13	1974	1987	Ind. Seasons
5	Babe Ruth	13	1920	1933	Ind. Seasons
6	Albert Pujols	12	2001	2012	Ind. Seasons
7	Jim Thome	12	1996	2008	Ind. Seasons
8	Manny Ramirez	12	1995	2008	Ind. Seasons
9	Jimmie Foxx	12	1929	1940	Ind. Seasons
10	Carlos Delgado	11	1997	2008	Ind. Seasons
11	Sammy Sosa	11	1993	2004	Ind. Seasons
12	Mark McGwire	11	1987	2000	Ind. Seasons
13	Frank Robinson	11	1956	1973	Ind. Seasons
14	Willie Mays	11	1954	1966	Ind. Seasons
15	Rafael Palmeiro	10	1993	2003	Ind. Seasons
16	Fred McGriff	10	1988	2002	Ind. Seasons
17	Harmon Killebrew	10	1959	1970	Ind. Seasons
18	Eddie Mathews	10	1953	1965	Ind. Seasons
19	Lou Gehrig	10	1927	1937	Ind. Seasons

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

Seasons that produced the most 30+ homer hitters:

Rk	Year	#
1	2000	47
2	1999	45
3	1996	43
4	2001	41
5	2004	37
6	2006	34
7	1998	33
8	1997	31
9	2009	30
10	2003	30
11	2008	28
12	2002	28
13	1987	28
14	2005	27
15	2007	26
16	2011	24
17	1993	22
18	1995	21
19	1977	19
20	1970	19
21	2010	18
22	1969	17
23	2012	16
24	1982	16

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

Soriano Catching Up to the Fastball

Alfonso Soriano (CHN) finished April tied for the Major League lead in home runs with ten.  Although his other batting stats are weak, he's slugging like he did prior to the 2009 season.  Soriano is once again able to catch up to the fastball:

Alfonso Soriano hitting against fastballs

Season	Average Speed	wOBA	Slugging Pct.
2008	91.0	.441	.650
2009	90.0	.392	.553
2010	91.2	.379	.548
2011	90.8	.488	.781

Sorinao's bat speed might have returned, but in 2011 it looks like pitchers are helping him with their fastballs.  In the two down years, the fastballs Alfonso saw tended to be down and away or up and in:

Alfonso Soriano, fastball pitch frequency, 2009-2010.There was a good reason for this pattern, as Soriano's power tended to be up and way and down and in:

Alfonso Soriano, in play slugging percentage on fastballs, 2009-2010.So far this season, Alfonso has seen fastballs up:

Alfonso Soriano, fastball pitch frequency, 2011.

And he's killing the high pitch.

Alfonso Soriano, in play slugging percentage on fastballs, 2011.He's catching up to the high and tight pitch, which says to me he improved his bat speed.  He's even slugging better on the few down and away fastballs he's seen.  The change in pitching pattern hasn't worked, as Soriano proved up to the task of smacking fastballs again.