Jackie Bradley, Jr. recently completed a long hitting streak in which he batted .415/.488/.783 in 121 plate appearances. Those numbers were way out of line with Bradley’s career, which was low batting average with a good number of walks and some pop. His seasonal age is 26, early in his prime years, an age when a player might break out. When someone performs that well, even during a short time span, it makes you wonder if he reached a new level of performance.
It doesn’t look like it. From the day after the streak ended (and the pressure was off), Bradley seems to have returned to his career norms. In his last 65 plate appearances, Bradley hit .196/.308/.464. He still gets on base a decent amount, and eight of his 11 hits went for extra bases, so the things he does well he continues to do well, if not better. The high batting average may turn out to be an aberration.
There’s a long way to go in the season, and his overall numbers for 2016 are well above his career norms. It’s just a reminder not to get too taken with the highs nor the lows.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1tA49hw
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