Do you know what’s sort of insane? It’s obvious to everyone that Kris Bryant is still adjusting and getting comfortable this season, yet the 2016 MVP still has a 111 wRC+ on the season. Specifically, Bryant’s biggest adjustment is to the locations at which pitchers throw him fastballs with two strikes.
Compared to last season, when he normally saw four-seamers away, pitchers are now attacking Bryant up and near his hands in two-strike counts. We can illustrate this change by plotting the probability of four-seam fastballs by zone location. It’s pretty wild just how much pitchers have changed their approach this season.