Yainer Diaz isn’t elevating the baseball enough

So I just did a small dive into Diaz’s numbers, compared to his 2023.

Yainer's K rate is down and walk rate is up, indicating better plate discipline. His swing rate, chase rate, and whiff rate all being down confirms this.

On the other hand, Diaz’s barrel rate and line drive rate are both way down, as is his HR rate, BUT his hard hit rate (batted ball of 95+ mph) is actually up. His average launch angle is way down because he's hitting significantly more ground balls.

A 60% ground ball rate, which is notably higher than his 2023 mark of 44%, is hurting his slugging percentage and related statistics.

It's an interesting switch up in profile.

He's swinging and missing less, but also losing power and slugging less, BUT his batting average and exit velocity are still good. If Yainer maintains this level of plate discipline and is able to elevate the ball more often, with hard-hit line drives and fly balls, his stats will really begin to pop.