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Listed below, are breakdowns of the true landing spots of all of Ryan Howard’s home runs, between 2011-2015 (as of June 4th, 2015). The charts include an outline of Citizens Bank Park’s dimensions just to give you a perspective on what would constitute pulling a home run–in this case we’ll use the area between 65 & 45 degrees.

From the 2012 season until now, you’ll see how the majority of Howard’s home runs are being hit the other way.  This is a telltale sign of decreasing bat speed, which has led to a steady decline in Howard’s production over the last few years.

YEAR GP AB H HR RBI BB SO AVG
2011 152 557 141 33 116 75 172 0.253
12&13 151 546 133 25 99 48 194 0.243
2014 153 569 127 23 95 67 190 0.223
2015 49 180 43 10 25 9 53 0.239

Take a look at the charts below to see what I mean. Let’s start with Howard’s 2011 regular season, prior to tearing his left Achilles tendon.

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/overlay/overlay_1433448113_459458341.jpg


Pretty even distribution right? I count only 21% (7 of 33) of his 2011 home runs being pulled. Now let’s move onto the years following his injury.

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/overlay/overlay_1433448706_561316730.jpg

For his 2012 regular season, I count 14% (2 of 14) of his home runs being pulled.

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/overlay/overlay_1433448791_489324368.jpg

For 2013, I count 36% (4 of 11). Both 2012 and 2013  were shortened due to injury. I like to combine those two seasons to get a better sample consistent with a full season. Doing this, Howard pulled 24% (6 of 25) of his home runs

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/overlay/overlay_1433448855_60458446.jpg

For 2014, I count 8% (2 of 23 )

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/overlay/overlay_1433449154_229197237.jpg

As of June 4th 2015 (the 2015 chart will continue to update), I count 20% (2 of 10).

Power hitters may be able to mask this deficiency early in their careers when their bat-speed is at its peak, and they can put it 400 feet in the air to any direction. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for Howard anymore.

Thanks to hittrackeronline.com for the breakdowns.

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