how has elly de la cruz (edlc) drastically lowered his k% by over 30% (31.3 -> 26.1) and what does that mean for his future? 

a few casts about elly's batting stance change, new plate approach, and how he's primed for a breakout 

statcast data and baseball savant visualization used to illustrate elly's major changes

if you follow edlc, you might think that his breakout season was last year where he was in the 88th percentile for batting run value. it's pretty hard to breakout from being the in 88th percentile. 

and if you look at his current 2025 stats, it looks like he's significantly regressed in all major "value" categories. if anything, the changes he made this year caused his value to regress, right? 

we'll answer this question at the end of the thread.

full time baseball data nerd | part time crypto degen

here's the thing with edlc, even though he's put up some elite numbers, he also lead the league in strikeouts last year. 

why does this matter? edlc is one of the fastest and most disruptive players on the base paths. strikeout prevent him from leveraging one of his best tools–speed. 

few players have the speed to steal 2nd and 3rd, then score on the errant throw. all within 2 pitches. by striking out in over 30% of his at bats, he greatly reduces his ability to cause havoc on the base paths.

so, how does a batting stance change contribute to edlc reducing his k%? 

first, let's talk about the changes in his batting stance: 
- depth in box: a slight ~1 inch shift further back in the box 
- distance off the plate: a slight ~1 inch shift further off the plate 
- stance angle: a 17 degree shift in his open stance 

that 17 degree shift is massive and likely plays a big role in his reduced k rate. typically, batters shift to a more open stance to get a better view of the pitcher and ball at the start of the pitchers wind up. 

the theory is that an open stance allows the batter to get both eyes on the pitch and track the ball better out of the pitcher's hand. in a addition to the slight shift back in the box, edlc essentially gives himself the best chance of tracking, seeing, and identifying the pitch out of the pitchers hand.

how do we know edlc is tracking and identifying pitches better aside from his improved k%? 

take a look at his improved barrel%, hard hit%, and squared-up%: 
- barrel%: 12.7 -> 15.3 
- hard-hit%: 45.7 -> 48.5 
- squared-up%: 22.1 -> 25.8 

a reminder that these metrics typically correlate to higher exit velocity (ev) on batted balls. higher ev = improved outcomes (ex: doubles/homers). 

he already had elite barrel and hard-hit rates in 2024, that he's only improved on. and we're seeing his squared-up rate go from 20th percentile to 51 percentile in mlb. 

significant improvements likely due to his ability to track the ball better and combined with his ability to put the barrel of the bat on the ball. 

note: edlc also experimented with a torpedo bat at the start of the year. i'm not sure if he's still using it and it may also contribute to these improved rates.