Iron Jeffers
Ryan Jeffers (MIN): 2-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.
Jeffers was a popular free agent pick-up earlier this month during a 16-game stretch between April 25 and May 14 where he hit .310/.382/.793 with seven home runs, 19 RBI, and 12 runs scored. Not too surprisingly, he cooled off quite a bit from there. Over his next 13 games, Jeffers hit .119/.229/143 with just one extra-base hit.
Thursday was a return to form. He hit a pair of home runs to power Minnesota’s victory over Kansas City. He’s now up to 12 home runs on the season—just two short of his career-high mark. He started with a 408-foot two-run shot (103.4 EV) in the fourth inning to cut the Royals’ lead down to 4-2. He added a 406-foot solo homer (108.4 EV) in the fifth to cut the deficit to one run.
Would the real Jeffers please stand up? Is he the power-hitting dynamo we saw earlier this season? Or the sluggish backstop from the past two weeks? The answer, as always, is probably somewhere in the middle. Overall this season, Jeffers has a below-average 85.9 average EV and a middling 34.9% hard-hit rate. His expected stats are not keeping pace with his actual numbers either, which suggests regression isn’t unexpected. That being said, he has a strong barrel rate (13.5%) and has battled his fair share of bad luck (.272 BABIP). He should continue to be a useful player all season.
Let’s See How the Other Hitters Did Thursday
Jose Siri (TBR): 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Siri hit his fourth and fifth home runs of the season and had his first multi-homer game since Aug. 9, 2023. Both shots were impressive: 428 feet in the second inning (109 EV) and 407 feet in the ninth (105 EV). Siri hit 25 home runs last year in 338 at-bats, so we know there is decent pop in his bat. But until he starts hitting with more consistency, a powerful swing just doesn’t matter. He is striking out over 35% of the time which is completely unsustainable for success. On the season, Siri is hitting just .188/.276/.338.
Alex Bregman (HOU): 2-4, 3B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Bregman had a home run and a triple on Thursday. He broke a scoreless tie with a two-run blast in the fourth inning (358 feet, 102.8 EV) and then he smoked a one-out 103.4 EV triple in the sixth, scoring on a sac fly. There haven’t been many positives for Bregman this season (he’s hitting just .218/.280/.360), but he has looked more like himself over the past week. He has three multi-hit games in his past five with two home runs, four RBI, and three runs.
Francisco Lindor (NYM): 4-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, SB.
Lindor cracked a 431-foot solo home run (105.7 EV) in the third inning on a four-seamer rising out of the zone. The ball tracked to the deepest part of center but the Arizona outfielder barely gave chase as the ball was clearly far gone. He added an RBI single in the seventh, two additional singles, and his seventh stolen base of the season for good measure. During a nine-game hitting streak, Lindor is slashing .375/.405/.625 with two home runs, 6 RBI, and 4 runs.
Gary Sánchez (MIL): 1-3, HR, R, 3 RBI.
Sanchez hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning that sealed victory for the Brewers. In a full count, Sanchez sent an 81 mph sweeper far out to centerfield (422 feet). It was his seventh home run of the season which is pretty impressive when you remember that he’s behind William Contreras on the depth chart. He sees time at DH too, so he should be a regular in any two-catcher formats, but his playing time and inconsistent hitting (.231/.300/.472) hurt his value anywhere else.
Vinnie Pasquantino (KCR): 2-5, HR, R, 2 RBI.
I highlighted Vinnie P in a Batter’s Box article earlier this month with a pun I was pretty proud of. He started the month hot and I said he was primed for a breakout. So, of course, Pasquantino has basically done nothing since then. At the time, he was slashing .256/.340/.457 and after last night’s two-hit performance, he’s now slashing just .229/.309/.404. Still, he came through with his sixth homer of the season in the first inning on a breaking ball against the wind out to right field. I still believe Pasquantino is headed for a breakout but apparently, it will be later more than sooner.
Riley Greene (DET): 1-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.
Green Monster, meet Greene Monster. Riley Greene’s 353-foot home run was the shortest of the night across the MLB landscape, but the big hit on a poorly spotted cutter defeated Fenway’s fearsome creature and drove in a pair of key runs in the eighth inning. After an impressive April, Greene has struggled in May. For the month, he is slashing .208/.276/.354. But in the same stretch, he also has a .266 BABIP, 91.2% average EV, and 50.7% hard-hit rate. The buy-low opportunity is very real.
Isaac Paredes (TBR): 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.
Paredes got things started for Tampa Bay with a two-run home run in the first inning. From a statistical standpoint, the homer was probably the least impressive of the day with a distance of 367 feet and an EV of just 95.8 mph. But it was an impressive bit of hitting for the underrated infielder. Paredes was clearly looking for the fastball and found himself haltering up on his tiptoes to adjust to a 79 mph slider that dropped low out of the zone. It was his 10th home run of the season and he’s slashing .295/.389/.503.
Aaron Judge (NYY): 1-5, HR, R, 2 RBI.
Remember when we were complaining about Judge’s slow start? Yeah, me neither. Judge hit his 12th home run of the month to tie the MLB lead with 18 dingers. With one on and no outs in the fourth, Patrick Sandoval went low with an 83 mph sweeper and Judge absolutely punished the ball 433 feet (110 EV) to deep left field. What a month it has been for Judge. In May he is hitting .355/.479/.871 with a 266 wRC+, .547 wOBA, 99.7 EV, and an insane .516 ISO.
J.D. Martinez (NYM): 1-3, HR, R, RBI, BB.
Age and injury are meaningless buzzwords to Martinez, who came off the IL on April 26 and has hit .273/.316/.445 since then. It took a couple of weeks to get his power going, but Martinez’s fourth home run since May 11 was a big one. He took a 91 mph sidearm sinker to straightaway centerfield to put the Mets ahead 3-2. It was an impressive hit, going 430 feet with a 109.4 EV. The numbers are a little down from last season, but Martinez is one of the game’s best power bats with a 51.4% hard-hit rate, 91.9 average EV, and 16.7% barrel rate.