Middle infielders hammering homers at historic rate

Middle infielders, rarely known for power production, are flexing their muscles like never before in 2016.

Both second basemen and shortstops have set single-season home run records for their position, and together they are accounting for a far bigger share of MLB roundtrippers than in years past. From last season to this season, the number of middle infielders who have gone deep 20-plus times has skyrocketed from four to 16 — a group that will continue to grow over the final month.

This suddenly threatening group features veterans with spiking power numbers such as the Twins’ red-hot Brian Dozier and the Nationals’ Daniel Murphy, as well as youngsters with wall-clearing pop such as the Rangers’ Rougned Odor and the Dodgers’ Corey Seager. Both contingents have done their part to shift the positional power hierarchy, outpacing the considerable overall rise in homers throughout the game.

As seen in the chart below, about 19 percent of homers this season have been hit by players who were manning second base or shortstop. Since 1974, a period for which Baseball-Reference.com has complete splits, the previous record was 17.1 percent (2007).

The question is what looms behind this surge in middle-infield power, and whether it is likely to continue. On this subject, there are a variety of theories.

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein pointed to the recent influx of talent at these positions. A record 14 middle infielders age 26 or younger already have hit at least 15 homers this season, smashing the record of 10 set in 2007. And while that sort of thing can be cyclical, it does suggest sustainability.

“Right now, there’s tremendous young talent in the game overall, and you tend to see the cream of the crop of the young talent in the middle of the field,” said Epstein, whose 22-year-old shortstop, Addison Russell, has 19 homers. “You have multidimensional shortstops like this, obviously, they’re among the most special players in the game.”

Could those players also be changing in ways that make them more likely to hit for power than their baseball ancestors?

Nationals manager Dusty Baker, whose own big league career began in the late 1960s, not only sees teams that are looking for power more, but also bodies that are getting bigger and often stronger. While Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. redefined what a shortstop could look like back in the 1980s, no other 6-foot-4 players stuck at the position until last year. Seager and the Astros’ Carlos Correa — …

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