Tampa Bay Rays' Slugger is the Active Leader in this Wild MLB Category
Tampa Bay Rays' slugger Isaac Paredes is the active Major League leader in this wild statistical category. We had to check twice just to make sure it was true.
Tampa Bay Rays' slugger Isaac Paredes is known for hitting home runs, just apparently not to the opposite field.
In fact, Paredes has hit 58 career home runs with NONE of them coming to the opposite field. That is by far the most of any active player in the Majors.
Per James Smyth of the YES Network on social media:
Isaac Paredes has a fun home run spray chart
58 career home runs, all of them pulled
Most HR Without Middle/Opposite-Field HR
(Since 2008 - Statcast)
58 Isaac Paredes
31 Darwin Barney
23 Henry Blanco
20 John McDonald
19 Madison Bumgarner
None of those other players on the list even play right now, so Paredes is way clear of any competition from the present game.
What's interesting also is that Smyth says Didi Gregorius, formerly of the Yankees and Phillies, hit 134 career home runs, with none of them coming to the opposite field. So, Paredes still has something to shoot for.
This season, Paredes is hitting .273 with five homers and 12 RBI. He also has scored nine runs and owns a .364 on-base percentage.
He made his major league debut in 2020 with the Detroit Tigers but became a regular with the Rays in 2021. He hit a career-high 31 homers last season. There was talk that Paredes could be traded this offseason but the Rays elected to trade Luke Raley instead, sending him to the Seattle Mariners in a deal for Jose Caballero.
Tampa Bay will take on the New York Yankees on Friday night. First pitch from the Bronx is 7:05 p.m. ET.
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