David Laurila at FanGraphs speaks with Bryce Eldridge, a young hitting prospect for the Giants. He talks about being a slugger and a complete hitter:
“Growing up, I kind of had a natural, sweet lefty swing,” he told me. “As I kept getting bigger I had to keep working at it, working with my coaches back home, working on trying to stay short. Consistency is the biggest key, especially for a guy my size. The more I can stay consistent with that stroke, the better it will be.”
And if you’re wondering, yes, he considers himself a power hitter.
“For sure,” Eldridge replied when asked if he identifies as such. “I think I’m a pretty complete hitter, although the strikeout numbers [132 this season] might point to me being a power hitter. Being able to put the ball in the air is my game. If I can get it in the air, it flies.”
FanGraphs.com
The two most interesting young sluggers in the majors right now are the juniors, Bobby Witt Jr.and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Both slugged over .500 in 2024 without striking out a ton. On top of that, they posted high BABIPs, which led to high batting averages. A high BABIP with a lot K rate and a decent number of home runs can lead to an extremely high batting average. Here is the list of players who hit at least .370 (technically, .3695) since 1941:
| Season | First Name | Last Name | AB | BABIP | BA | BA to BABIP Ratio | HR | Ks | HR to K Ratio |
| 1941 | Ted | Williams | 456 | 0.378 | 0.406 | 1.07 | 37 | 27 | 1.4 |
| 1994 | Tony | Gwynn | 419 | 0.389 | 0.394 | 1.01 | 12 | 19 | 0.6 |
| 1980 | George | Brett | 449 | 0.368 | 0.390 | 1.06 | 24 | 22 | 1.1 |
| 1957 | Ted | Williams | 420 | 0.367 | 0.388 | 1.06 | 38 | 43 | 0.9 |
| 1977 | Rod | Carew | 616 | 0.408 | 0.388 | 0.95 | 14 | 55 | 0.3 |
| 1999 | Larry | Walker | 438 | 0.363 | 0.379 | 1.04 | 37 | 52 | 0.7 |
| 1948 | Stan | Musial | 611 | 0.354 | 0.376 | 1.06 | 39 | 33 | 1.2 |
| 2000 | Todd | Helton | 580 | 0.357 | 0.372 | 1.04 | 42 | 61 | 0.7 |
| 2000 | Nomar | Garciaparra | 529 | 0.378 | 0.372 | 0.98 | 21 | 50 | 0.4 |
| 2004 | Ichiro | Suzuki | 704 | 0.399 | 0.372 | 0.93 | 8 | 63 | 0.1 |
| 1997 | Tony | Gwynn | 592 | 0.363 | 0.372 | 1.02 | 17 | 28 | 0.6 |
| 1993 | Andres | Galarraga | 470 | 0.399 | 0.370 | 0.93 | 22 | 73 | 0.3 |
| 1987 | Tony | Gwynn | 589 | 0.383 | 0.370 | 0.97 | 7 | 35 | 0.2 |
| 2002 | Barry | Bonds | 403 | 0.330 | 0.370 | 1.12 | 46 | 47 | 1.0 |
Ted Williams in 1941 was pretty amazing.
Note that hitters with a HR to K ratio over 0.6 then raise their BA over their BABIP. Witt and Guerrero both had a ratio of 0.3 in 2024. They each may be able to add ten home runs next season, but they are going to need to pull their Ks down quite a somewhere less than 70, to get the BA boost.
Also, I didn’t realize how strikeouts really hurt Galarraga in 1993, and how a lack of home runs hurt Ichiro in 2004 and Carew in 1997. All three had BABIPs near .400, but could not pull their batting averages near or over those BABIPs.