Christian Yelich is a former MVP but he has struggled over the past several years to recreate that success. This due in large part to battling injuries. Well he back to dominating and player at an elite level. I will break down what has changed and share what he is doing differently to create this success. First, he has raised his launch angle, almost doubling it from 3.5 to 6.1. While he has never been a high LA guy, he is giving himself a better chance to succeed by getting the ball a little more in the air more often to find more space to land hits. Second, he is punishing breaking pitches this year. He has always been a good fastball hitter but this year he has begun to close up that hole in his game and is hitting .324 and slugging an absurd .649 against breaking pitches. This is due to a couple factors, he his above average in chase rate and BB%. He also is above average in bat speed this is allowing him to cover more pitches. Third, he is hits the ball hard, a lot. He ranks in the 80th percentile in average exit velocity and in the 92nd percentile in hard hit rate at 51%. This coupled with his above average plate discipline and improved LA allow him to drive the ball to all fields. Fourth, he is pulling the ball at a career rate. In no other season of his career he was above 35.8% pull rate, this season he is sitting at 43.7%. Finally, As you can see from the R visualization, he punishes the ball in the lower 2/3 of the zone and the only piece of the zone he really struggles with is high and tight, which is probably why he has struggled with cutters in and high from RHP. I expect Christian to continue to dominate the NL Central this year. Data procured from Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball savant

The curious case of Christopher Morel. He projects as a stat cast darling. He lights up the top of the league with Exit Velocities, Bat speed and barrel rates. Why has he struggled so much to create consistency this year? Let's break down what he has done well and what has held him back. He ranks near the top of the league in Exit Velocities, Bat Speed, and Barrels. This means he is doing a great job of creating hard hit baseballs and as we know, this means that harder you hit the ball, the more often, the better chance you have of landing hits, especially extra base hits. He also is walking at a great rate of over 12%. He is chasing at a 24.7% clip which is below league average, so he is not beating himself. Some of what has happened to him is a bout of bad luck. He is underperforming as compared to all his expected statistics. His expected BA is .267 and his expected slugging is .502, while his actual BA is .209 and slugging is .400. If he is doing all this well, what is holding him back. Upon first glance his launch angle seems to be good, but when you look at his LA sweet spot he ranks in the 10th percentile at 28%. This means he either hits the ball on the ground or way up in the air. His line drive percentage at 18% which is well below league average. The other thing that he could improve on is his whiff rate, while he has a pretty good handle on the strike zone he is whiffing at a rough rate. He is in the 20th percentile whiffing at almost 30%. Upon looking at his metrics, if he could shorten his swing without sacrificing bat speed and stay on plane longer, he could help improve both of those metrics. Either way, Christopher Morel is an incredible talent and has all the tools to become an elite offensive player. Data Procured from Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball savant