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Just doing some quick work on Byrd.
It looks like his speed off the bat has not gone up during his power surge. It's been 103-104 average, about as it had been before. And it was 106 in 2009 when he was a more "complete" hitter.
But the launch angle seems to be key, as I think it was Jeff Sullivan's article pointing out.
In 2009 he had only two HR with angle over 30 degrees (of 20). In 2013 it was 10 of 24. So far this year, 7 of 18.
Fascinating stuff.