It’s been almost a month since the 2026 season officially kicked off. I believe many fans have watched several games thus far this season. A few days ago, I watched some highlights, in a highlight, a star player crushed a home run. However, an interesting thing is that that pitch wasn’t in the strike zone.
Well, hitting pitches out of the strike zone isn’t usually a good idea. However, some players are able to make solid contact. After watching the highlight, I decided to check on the statcast website to see which players had smashed several home runs while hitting pitches out of the zone.
From 2021 to 2025, Salvador Perez smashed 150+ home runs. In particular, he crushed 48 home runs in the 2021 season. Interestingly, his chase rate was over 40% from 2021 to 2025 and over the last 5 seasons, he crushed 28 home runs, of which those pitches were located out of the strike zone. In the 2021 season, there were 8 times that he swung at pitches out of the zone and made them out-of-zone home runs.
Adolis Garcia isn’t playing for the Rangers this season. Nonetheless, he was an important hitter in the Rangers lineup from 2021 to 2025. In those 5 seasons, he hit 141 home runs. And there were 2 times that he crushed 30+ home runs in a single season. From 2021 to 2025, there was only one time that his chase rate was below 30% in a single season. So, it’s not a surprise that he would swing at pitches out of the zone. And he can crush those pitches. Over the last 5 seasons, there were 26 times that Garcia swung at pitches out of the strike zone and the balls traveled far to become home runs.
Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants last summer. Previously, he played for the Red Sox. From 2021 to 2025, he hit 160+ home runs and there were 3 times that he finished a season with 30+ home runs. His chase rate was over 30% over the last 5 seasons and he smashed 25 out-of-zone home runs.
In addition, Anthony Santander smashed 44 home runs in 2024 and became an All-Star. And he blasted 33 home runs in 2022. From 2021 to 2025, he hit 21 out-of-zone home runs. His chase rate was over 30% over the last 5 seasons. However, he only played 54 games last season because of an injury.
Finally, an MVP player is on the list as well. Shohei Ohtani is the other player who hit at least 20 out-of-zone home runs from 2021 to 2025. Over the last 5 seasons, his chase rate was actually below 30%. So, he didn’t chase often.
Looking at the stats from 2021 to 2025, there were 5 players who hit 20+ out-of-zone home runs. Most of those players had a chase rate over 30% over the last 5 years. Nonetheless, there’s an exception. Shohei Ohtani, who’s a 4-time MVP award winner, didn’t chase much with a chase rate below 30%. It could be worthwhile to see why he chose to swing at those pitches out of the zone. Perhaps, some pitches aren’t far away from his “zone”.
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