Granderson Turns Power On To Start Season
When the Yankees acquired Curtis Granderson from the Detroit Tigers prior to the 2010 season, many expected the All-Star center fielder to thrive in the New Yankee Stadium, even relative to his excellent tenure in the Motor City. Although 2010 wasn’t a disappointing season by any means — Granderson put up a .346 wOBA and solid defense in center en route to 3.7 WAR — he didn’t realize the power boost that many expected with the move from lefty-suppressing Comerica Park to lefty-friendly New Yankee Stadium. That is, until this season. After a modest 24 homer season in 2010, Granderson has slugged seven quick bombs in 2011, lending credence to those who expected Granderson to go supernova last season but were left disappointed. Even though it took a full year, though, we shouldn’t be surprised Granderson is showing some premiere power.
Dave Allen showed with his typical expertise precisely why many expected Granderson to thrive under his new conditions:
Comerica Park is a pitcher’s park and Granderson has generally had a better ISO away than home. At Yankee Stadium, which might be the best place for lefty pull-power hitters, this should change. Here is the HR/BIA rate by angle of the ball in play for LHBs in Yankee Stadium versus Comerica Park.
Right field, where Granderson hits most of his HRs, at Yankee Stadium has a much higher HR rate than right at Comerica Park. So, Granderson should see a boost to his already solid power in New York. The Yankees got not only a all-star-level player, but one well suited to their park.
It wasn’t as if Granderson’s pull power deserted him last season. In fact, Granderson’s HR/FB% to the pull side of the field was a remarkable 48.9% in 2010, fourth among qualified players (trailing only Miguel Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, and Derrek Lee) and the highest mark of his seven years as a Major Leaguer. This didn’t manifest itself as a career best in home runs for two reasons. Granderson hit lower in the lineup and received a number of off days to nullify his problems against left-handed pitching, and he hit far fewer balls (and fly balls) to right field overall than in 2009, his 30 home run season which created the vision of Granderson as a power hitter. The 29-year-old’s fly ball percentage to right field was six percentage points lower in 2010 than it was in 2009 and his percentage of balls hit to right field in general was five percent lower as well.
Now, in some ways, 2009 was an aberration. His career splits are much closer to 2010 than they are to his powerful 2009 season. However, even with a reversion to less homer-friendly spray tendencies, Granderson still posted a similar number of home runs per plate appearance in 2010. With more time on the field in 2011 — 70 plate appearances already through 19 games — Granderson’s power is able to manifest itself in counting stats as well as rates. Of course, he will cool off — his HR/FB to pull is a white-hot 85.7% right now — but the 30+ home run seasons many envisioned on Granderson’s arrival? They’re possible, and we should see the first in 2011.
Cool article and I agree with your conclusions, but I’ll just point out that Granderson has actually hit more HRs on the road (4 vs 3) than at home this year despite playing a home-heavy schedule so far.
The great news for Yankee fans is his 1.389 OPS against lefties so far. Obviously the sample size is miniscule, but it’s a continuation of where he left off last year after he re-vamped his swing.
Coincidence or not, since he re-tooled his swing with Kevin Long last August, he’s hit the third most homers in the league behind Tulo and Bautista.
I was entirely on-board with Granderson having a huge 2010, due largely to the short porch in RF in New York. However, in retrospect, can’t we assign a large portion of the reduction in pulled fly balls to the fact that, Leake and Ponson aside, not all pitchers are morons, and Granderson was likely given fewer pitches to pull in 2010, than he was when he was playing Detroit?
I think that’s a valid point. There is such a belief that pitchers can only exert a significant amount of control over strikeouts, walks, and home runs (and not BABIP), that fans do sometimes forget that will change their pitching patterns based on the hitter and the park. So, sure, a pitcher will feel more comfortable coming inside on Granderson at CoAmerica than he will at Yankee Stadium.
That all said, I did (perhaps not-so-jokingly) pick Granderson as this year’s potential Jose Bautista, meaning a player with a huge breakout HR season. A full, healthy seasons with half his games at Yankee Stadium, and a new, improved swing against lefties thanks to Kevin Long, and a 40+ HR season is more than possible.
Maybe, but his numbers last year weren’t particularly low for him, they were just at his career marks. It’s certainly possible though.
A-roid might have shown him how to juice?
U mad?
Flock of wah wahs
obvious troll is obvious
Grandson had an abbreviated season in 2010 with 528 PAs. A full season in the 2 spot at NYA would grant him about 700 PAs and project to just under 32 HRs. Not quite supernova, but I hardly modest.
I think Grandy boy’s 2010 season was decent, but he really put on some weight this year. He’s at least 20 pounds heavier. It’s giving him plenty of power and I think he will overtake Teixeira as rthe #4 hitter by the end of 2011
Becasue human beings have the capacity to add 20 lbs of muscle in an offseason. Most research seems to indicate a cap of about 2 lbs a month, so he’s carrying probably 10 lbs of worthlessness in the best case scenario.
FTR, those studies used “natural” body builders, widely considered to be the best at adding muscle without steroids but with the help of supplements (most of which would still cause a positive test by MLB’s procedure so those are probably unavailable to Granderson). I find it doubtful that Granderson has superior muscle adding genetics to those guys.
Well the “20lbs heavier” was a complete guess as well so the entire argument isnt all that valid.
either way, his results since last August may give some credence to the idea that his “new swing” is in fact responsible to some degree for a real change in his hitting abilitiy
Dude looks no different to me. Do you know how much 20 Ibs of muscle would add to a frame, considering you would have to have some fat added as well. That’s crazy