Amid great season, Bryant still has one weakness

Kris Bryant more than met the high expectations put upon him in 2015, becoming the unanimous winner of the National League Rookie of the Year Award, but he entered his second season still wanting to improve.

As he detailed to MLB.com in May, Bryant hoped to flatten out his uppercut swing this year in order to lower a strikeout rate that was above 30 percent in 2015. He did just that, cutting it down to 23 percent without sacrificing any power; in fact, his slugging percentage is up more than 70 points.

As far as changes go, it was an effective one — Bryant is one of the front-runners for the NL Most Valuable Player Award, and given that, the Cubs have to be more than satisfied with what they’re getting from their young slugger. But it’s still interesting to dig deeper and see just how different of a hitter Bryant has become. No one in baseball is more productive when pulling the ball. No one in baseball is less productive when going to the opposite field.

If that sounds shocking, it should, because Bryant came up hailed as a hitter who could do damage to all fields. Early last year, a Baseball America scouting report referred to his “Mike Piazza-like ability to hit to the opposite field power alley.” FanGraphs dedicated an entire article to breaking down how Bryant hit a Francisco Liriano pitch in on his hands out to deep right field.

In his first year, Bryant hit five homers to right, and slugged .529 to the opposite field. This year? Well, let’s back up those statements with numbers. OPS is a something of a blunt tool, but it’ll get the job done here.

Lowest OPS to opposite field, 2016

.313 — Bryant .357 — Derek Norris .411 — Ben Revere .433 — Eduardo Escobar

Now, the obvious counterbalance here is that absolutely nobody crushes to their pull field like Bryant does.

Highest OPS to pull field, 2016

1.523 — Bryant 1.495 — Trevor Story 1.428 — Mookie Betts …

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