Giancarlo Stanton is in the zone

Last night, Giancarlo Stanton hit his 34th home run of the season, tying for the second-most homers in a season in Marlins history.

When healthy, Stanton has been a force with a .952 OPS, batting .283 and leading the majors with .600 slugging percentage. 

Take a look at his slugging this season:

It is apparent from the graphic above that pitchers need to fear throwing Stanton a strike.

Look at Stanton's effectiveness at pitches in the strike zone:

His numbers are overwhelming. On pitches in the strike zone, Stanton is hitting .358, slugging .795, with an OPS of 1.161. Against lefties his numbers are even better with pitches in the strike zone hitting .373 and slugging .851 

Here are the Marlins who have hit at least 30 homers in a season:

Rk	Player	HR	Year	G	AB	RBI
1	Gary Sheffield	42	1996	161	519	120
2	Giancarlo Stanton	34	2012	113	413	79
3	Giancarlo Stanton	34	2011	150	516	87
4	Miguel Cabrera	34	2007	157	588	119
5	Dan Uggla	33	2010	159	589	105
6	Hanley Ramirez	33	2008	153	589	67
7	Carlos Delgado	33	2005	144	521	115
8	Miguel Cabrera	33	2005	158	613	116
9	Miguel Cabrera	33	2004	160	603	112
10	Mike Jacobs	32	2008	141	477	93
11	Dan Uggla	32	2008	146	531	92
12	Mike Lowell	32	2003	130	492	105
13	Dan Uggla	31	2009	158	564	90
14	Dan Uggla	31	2007	159	632	88
15	Derrek Lee	31	2003	155	539	92
16	Cliff Floyd	31	2001	149	555	103
17	Preston Wilson	31	2000	161	605	121

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/12/2012.

Giancarlo Connecting More With Two Strikes

Giancarlo Stanton's power has been the stuff of scouting lore since his scoreboard-clearing days in the minors. But there has also been concern that one of the trade-offs for those thunderous shots -- lots of swings and misses -- would hold him back in his quest to become an all-around terror at the plate. Unfortunately for pitchers, Stanton has solved his one offensive weakness by connecting more in two-strike counts.

Giancarlo's K rate has decreased from 31.1 percent as a rookie in 2010 to 27.6 percent last year and 22.3 percent in 2012, not far off the 19-20 percent MLB average this season. His OPS+, on the other hand, has skyrocketed from 118 to 141 to 155. For that, he can thank better plate coverage in the upper third of the zone when he doesn't have a strike to spare.

First, here's the average contact rate by pitch location for right-handed hitters in two-strike counts since 2010:

Average contact rate by pitch location for RHB in two-strike counts, 2010-12

Righty batters have whiffed 19 percent of the time they have swung at two-strike pitches thrown high in the zone since 2010. Now, look at Stanton's contact rate with two strikes as a rookie. There was a big cold spot on high-and-away offerings:

Stanton's contact rate by pitch location with two strikes, 2010

Stanton swung through 39 percent of two-strike pitches thrown high, the sixth-highest rate among MLB hitters that season. Last year, he adjusted and started to get his bat on those high-and-away pitches:

Stanton's contact rate by pitch location with two strikes, 2011

His miss rate on high two-strike pitches improved to 32 percent. Giancarlo has connected with even more high two-strike offerings in 2012, save for a small sliver of the zone. His miss rate is down to 27 percent:

Stanton's contact rate by pitch location with two strikes, 2012

For all the deserved praise that Bryce Harper and Mike Trout receive, Stanton has rather quietly cobbled together one of the greatest offensive starts to a career. Ever. Per Baseball-Reference, Stanton has the ninth-best slugging percentage (.537) and the 18th-highest OPS+ (136) among hitters getting at least 1,000 plate appearances through their age-22 season. Now that Stanton has cut the Ks, there's no telling how much pain he'll inflict on pitchers in the coming years.