Andres Torres has been an excellent story for the Giants. He emerged seemingly out of nowhere and was a major contributor in the Giants winning the World Series. He roamed the outfield like a spark plug and as the lead off hitter, he had icing on the cake with his pop.
His defense and ability to get on base remain the same, but the thing that made him so special and valuable, his pop, seems to be missing.
In his 740 plate appearances in 2009 and 2010, he posted an Isolated Power (ISO) of .223, which was the sixth best mark among National League outfielders and ranked number 31 among all players in baseball.
This year, Torres hasn't gotten his power going. He has fallen considerably, ranking just 32nd among National League outfielders.
At no point this season has he been at the same level that he established over his previous time with the Giants.
I don't know the reason for the power outage but looking at his batted ball data, it's pretty obvious that it's coming from a drop in the number of line drives and less of his fly balls leaving the park. His other peripherals all look roughly the same. He is swinging and making contact at similar rates; just not squaring it up as much as last year.
Maybe something has changed with his swing and he needs to spend some time in the video room with hitting coach Hensley Meulens.
I wish I had the magic elixir that could bring back the line drives and push those fly balls out of the park. The Giants could sure use the extra power in the lineup.
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