Welcome to this little discussion on batters who are smoking the ball. I wrote a similar column a few weeks ago, and thought it would be fun to make this a regular column throughout the season. When analyzing hitters, we love seeing that they’re making solid contact and really putting a charge into the ball. There are several different ways you can go about seeking out this data, and there is plenty of context needed aside from simply “Kronk hit ball hard, ball go far, Kronk good player.” We’re not barbarians here!

The goal here was to use Statcast to check in on the average exit velocity leaders for the entire season, and then also use that data to view those who have hit the most 100+ MPH balls at a launch angle greater than 10 degrees to weed out the grounders (not that they don’t have their place, but we want the power shots). Then you’ll find the hard-hit leaders according to Fangraphs for the past 30 days if you want to see whose name repeats, as well as a few surges from the past 14 days at the end.

Without further ado, here’s that sweet data (numbers as of May 20).

2016 Average Exit Velocity Leaders

Plenty of power bats populate the list, with hard-hitting grounder specialist Christian Yelich nearly at the top of the list. Cameron Rupp can smash a baseball, but this is why we don’t blindly follow any one stat as we know that he isn’t good for much else (ditto Tyler Flowers). This isn’t accounting for overall contact rates of course, with the presence of many batters who can launch dingers but kill your average.

What this can do is allow you to validate certain hot streaks when it comes to power, as it’s what I personally banked on to hold with Danny Valencia before his torrid past week. That’s not meant to be a promise that it always translates, but perhaps some are thinking that Eric Hosmer is getting lucky since he hasn’t really performed this well before. Not so fast, as hitting the ball this well and this fast correlates with better batted-ball luck. Create that good fortune!

Most 100+ MPH Exit Velocities With >10 Degree Launch Angle

Over the Past 30 Days

Last 30 Days Hard-Hit Rate Leaders

Before we begin, the first name that will appear, Joey Votto (51.0%) deserves some discussion. He is definitely making hard contact, but as his owners know, the results are not coming in. Is this simply bad luck?

He’s batting .226 in the past 30 days to go with this league-leading hard-hit rate. Well, his OBP and SLG have risen in May while his average has fallen, which aligns with his increased fly ball rate in May (while grounders have held steady). I believe in him, as his May splits have his pull rate falling from 45.3% to 30.0%, meaning he’s finally starting to spray the ball a bit more. This points to his natural swing more so than a crazy pull hitter who is getting pounded inside, which created many struggles. This isn’t the place to drone on about him, but this sounds like a good idea for when May ends.

Notable Names - Last 14 Days Hard-Hit Leaderboard

Just a few guys who are towards the top in the last 14 days.

Jung Ho Kang: 46.4% - He’s come back on the scene with authority, owners should be encouraged.

Yan Gomes: 46.4% - His batting average in his last 30, and last 14, games is exactly .154. That seems odd. His BABIP was .227 in April, and it’s a laughable .143 through May thus far. So his increase in hard hits has come with a further drop in batted ball luck. Yes, hitting many fly balls and striking out a lot can hurt your luck profile, but not like this…not like this.

Adam Jones: 46.3% - Hopefully you didn’t cut ties with him.

Live Expert Q&A Chats - Every Weekday @ 1 PM and 6 PM EST (DFS)

Fantasy Baseball Chat Room