Eric Thames may truly be unstoppable: He hit yet another home run

On Tuesday night, Eric Thames homered again (yes, again) in the Brewers' 9-1 victory over the Reds. It was his 11th of the month -- breaking a Brewers team record for April and putting him just three behind Albert Pujols for the Major League record with four games to play. It's not exactly luck, either. Thames entered play on Tuesday tied for second in the Majors in barrels. 
Even for the most hopeful of Brewers fans, this performance is unexpected. After all, when Thames left the Majors for Korea, he had plenty of holes in his swing. He showed promise, hitting 21 home runs in a little over a full season's worth of plate appearances from 2011-12:

But he also struck out too much and struggled mightily against fastballs (.201 average), sliders (.188) and curves (.204). You don't earn many Major League at-bats hitting like that. 
After going to Korea, Thames became a different hitter. Though he didn't see the same kind of velocity he did in the Majors, he became a power hitter that feasted on endless varieties of spin. 

Back in the Majors at the age of 30, he's put every tool to work.
Part of his success has come thanks to Reds pitchers, with eight of his dingers coming against the division rival. That doesn't begin to tell the whole story. After all, Cincinnati has allowed 30 homers this season. Thames -- just one man -- is responsible for 27 percent of the dingers the Reds have surrendered. 

It's also more home runs against one team than any other player has on the season:

It doesn't matter what pitchers throw him either. He's homered against fastballs, sinkers, sliders, curves and changeups. Again, we are still in April. And sure, because it's early in the season, the sample sizes are small, but Thames is hitting 5-for-10 against sliders, with three of those hits leaving the park. 

It also doesn't matter if the ball is inside or out -- leave the pitch near the belt and around the strike zone, and Thames can hammer it:

It doesn't matter what the count is. Batters entered Tuesday night hitting .165 with a home run every 50 at-bats after two strikes. 
Thames is hitting .293 with seven homers in 41 at-bats. 

He's not a new Brian Dozier that's looking to pull everything in hopes of leaving the park. His spray chart is like the directions on sunscreen: It's evenly applied. 

Harold Reynolds broke down Thames' swing, pointing out the simple, all-fields approach he's used to roast pitchers: 

At some point, Thames will cool down. The league will find a hole to exploit -- even Mike Trout has a (relative) weakness to pitches up in the zone. 
Of course, whether that hole is found before or after Thames has laid waste to every pitcher in the Majors and has launched 30-plus home runs, is another question.