6 under-the-radar hitters with a rare blend of skills

It’s an old baseball adage: Some players excel at putting the ball in play, and others excel at hitting the cover off of it, but few succeed at both. Indeed, now that we have Statcast data to explore, we can verify the eye test: Power and contact are traits with a strong, inverse correlation.

But all rules are made to be broken, and this one is no exception. How do we diagnose the top power-contact combinations in the Majors? To dive into this, we’ll use two categories specifically: barrel rate and contact rate. Barrels are the most dangerous type of contact in baseball -- a more formal definition can be seen on MLB’s glossary here -- but to summarize, they are batted balls with the optimal combination of exit velocity and launch angle. As such, a player’s barrel rate is his percentage of batted balls that are considered barrels. Contact rate is a little simpler to explain: the percentage of a player’s swings that make contact with the ball.

Who are the best of the best at combining these traits? Check out the below graph, which displays these metrics in percentile form for all 259 qualified hitters through June 8’s games, via Baseball Savant. To clarify, percentile form means that the number you see is how each player ranks compared to the rest of the league, not the player’s actual output in that statistic. For example, Matt Chapman’s 98 in barrel rate means that he has a higher barrel rate than 98 percent of MLB’s qualified hitters, not that he has gotten a barrel on 98 percent of his batted balls (that would be a stretch even for his standards).

Some of the names in that coveted top-right corner are ones you might expect -- think Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña Jr.. But some others you might not have anticipated being there. Below, we spotlight six under-the-radar players who have demonstrated a rare combination of power and contact this season, something that could bode well for their performance moving forward.

Keibert Ruiz, C, Nationals
Percentiles: 66th in barrel rate, 98th in contact rate

For Ruiz, the ability to get the bat on the ball is evidently what stands out, as his 86.7% contact rate ranks fifth-highest among qualified hitters (and highest among qualified catchers). This has led to Ruiz having a miniscule strikeout rate of 7.7% in 2023, which is lower than any qualified hitter besides the potential “Mr. .400”, Luis Arraez. But this ability is nothing new for the 24-year-old catcher, who has had a contact rate of at least 85% in every one of his MLB seasons (excluding 2020, when he only played two games).

What is newer for Ruiz, though, is the power. Ruiz has seven home runs in 50 games this season -- that’s already matched his career high, which was set in 112 games in 2022. Ruiz has 18 barrels this season, via Statcast, which is more than he had from 2020-22 combined.

LaMonte Wade Jr., 1B, Giants
Percentiles: 63rd in barrel rate, 76th in contact rate

For Wade, his most notable trait might not be his power or his contact. Wade’s plate discipline has been off the charts in 2023, as he ranks in the 99th percentile in walk rate and the 98th percentile in chase rate this season. This has helped contribute to a breakout season for the 29-year-old, who has career highs in batting average (.282), on-base percentage (.419) and OPS (.887) through June 8.

But, of course, the power and contact haven’t been too shabby either. Wade is one of 13 qualified hitters to be at least in the 60th percentile in both barrel rate and contact rate, helping him rank in the 93rd percentile or better in both weighted on-base average and expected wOBA.

Zach McKinstry, UTIL, Tigers
Percentiles: 75th in barrel rate, 79th in contact rate

Three qualified MLB hitters have barrel rates and contact rates in the 70th percentile or better. Two of them are current teammates on the Dodgers, with both boasting six All-Star berths, an MVP Award, and at least one World Series win to their names (Betts and Freeman). The third is McKinstry, who coincidentally was teammates with Betts on the Dodgers’ 2020 World-Series winning team, having seven plate appearances in four games.

When it comes to career accolades, that’s about all that McKinstry -- who was acquired by Detroit in a seemingly minor trade in March 2023 -- has in common with Betts or Freeman. But when it comes to performance on the field this season, McKinstry is right there with that pair of baseball legends. Via Statcast, the 28-year-old’s .291 expected batting average and .380 expected wOBA both are in the 90th percentile or better.

Josh Naylor, 1B, Guardians
Percentiles: 63rd in barrel rate, 76th in contact rate

A first-round pick (No. 12 overall) in the 2015 Draft, Naylor has put it all together in his fifth MLB season. His contact rate has been relatively consistent throughout his career, as his 79.9% contact rate this season is right on par with his 79.8% career mark.

But it’s his ability to make good contact that has jumped out this season. His barrel rate (10.2%), average exit velocity (90.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (46.5%) are all career highs. This has led to Naylor having career-best marks in batting average (.277), on-base percentage (.332) and slugging percentage (.463) through June 8. For good measure, the 5-foot-11, 250 pound first baseman has gotten it done in the field as well, with a career-best 94th percentile in Outs Above Average.

Max Kepler, RF, Twins
Percentiles: 71st in barrel rate, 62nd in contact rate

How does a player with a .189 batting average and .627 OPS make this list? Because the raw production numbers don’t always quantify how well a batter is actually performing -- and Kepler is Exhibit A.

Don’t let the counting stats fool you: Kepler is putting the ball in play hard and often this season. His 10.8% barrel rate is his highest in any of his nine MLB seasons, as is his 44.1% hard-hit rate. If we exclude the 2015 season, in which he only played four games, his average exit velocity of 90.8 mph this year also becomes a career-best. His expected slugging percentage via Statcast is .444, 80 points higher than his actual slugging percentage of .364. If his actual production metrics catch up to his expected ones, he’s a player to watch out for in the second half of the season for the AL Central-leading Twins.

Rowdy Tellez, 1B, Brewers
Percentiles: 62nd in barrel rate, 63rd in contact rate

You probably already knew that Tellez could hit the ball hard, as evidenced by his career-high and team-leading 35 home runs in his first full season with the Brewers in 2022. That’s only continued this season, as Tellez again leads the Brew Crew with 12 homers thus far.

What you might not know is that Tellez’s selectivity at the plate has improved at a tremendous rate. In his first full-time season of 2019, his chase rate was 37.2%, a number which dropped to 34.2% in 2020, 32.3% in 2021, 27.0% in 2022 and finally a career-best 24.2% this season. That has led to a career-best 77.4% contact rate for Tellez, who has found the plate discipline to match the power that has always been there.