Over the past three seasons, no shortstop has hit more home runs than J.J. Hardy. In fact, The Baltimore Orioles’ star has even slugged more dingers than Troy Tulowitzki, Asdrubal Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez.
| 2011-2013 | HR |
| J.J. Hardy | 77 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 63 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 55 |
| Hanley Ramirez | 54 |
| Ian Desmond | 53 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 45 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 45 |
But the very shortstop with a penchant for hitting home runs has yet to connect for one in 2014. Over his first 178 plate appearances, Hardy has posted a stellar .303 batting average, park-adjusted 94 OPS+ and 11 doubles—but zero home runs.
So how is it that despite sporting a high batting average (it’s 43 points above his career rate) and reasonable OBP+ (it’s only two points below his career rate), that Hardy is sitting at zero home runs? Continue reading
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