How Jackson Chourio Turned Into a Different Hitter..

Jackson Chourio started 2026 on the injured list with a hairline fracture in his left hand. He didn’t play his first game until May 4.

Then he had the best season of his career: .291 with a .351 on-base and a .487 slug, 25 homers and 23 steals in 127 games. That’s 29% better than a league-average hitter. He was the only player in MLB this year with 25 homers, 20 steals and a .290 average.

The jump didn’t come from cutting strikeouts. His strikeout rate was actually the highest of his career. He just started doing a lot more damage when he made contact.

Look at his barrel rate. A barrel is Statcast’s term for the best possible contact, the exit velocity and launch angle combo that turns into extra bases. As a rookie, 7.8% of his batted balls were barrels, right at league average. This year it was 12.3%, in the 81st percentile.

His average exit velocity went from 89.7 mph as a rookie to 91.6 this year. And the share of his swings at 75 mph of bat speed or faster jumped from 33.6% to 46.6%.

He also became the first player in MLB history with three 20-20 seasons before turning 23.

Then October came, and he started rewriting the record book. Now he’s in the World Series.

Full story on YouTube. Link in bio.

TheCouchGM