Very interesting to me that Smoak shows up in your chart only once, but at 110 which is faster than any of Cano's, Seager's, Saunders' and even Zunino's.
It seems like Smoak the hitter is like Maurer the starter. The elements are there, but something is keeping them from being converted into success. Maurer goes to the pen and -- poof! -- what wasn't working is suddenly working.
Maybe something with the weight of his bat, as one of you has suggested.
Jose Bautista was a decent hitter until age 29 when he made a mechanical change and became an MVP. Using your tool, I can see that he went from an average of 103 to 106 that year, and he's held the extra oomph. Smoak has been stuck around 103 his whole career.
Wonder what it would take to get Smoak to 106?
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