Ex-Twins slugger Miguel Sano leads the league in impressive category

Sano was out of the league in 2023 but has bounced back with the Angels.

Even an in-the-know baseball fan wouldn't guess that Miguel Sano leads the majors in average exit velocity this season. Most people with knowledge of the game would probably guess that metric title is held by Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr., Juan Sota, Mike Trout or Aaron Judge. But no, it's the former Minnesota Twins slugger atop the charts.

Entering play Tuesday, Sano is actually far and away the leader with an average exit velocity of 100.6 mph. That's exactly 3 mph harder than the next best average exit velocity: Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. at 97.6 mph, according to Baseball Savant.

Of course, hitting rockets doesn't always mean a player is getting hits. Sano, in 11 games, has nine hits in 33 at-bats in his first season with the Angels. He has two doubles and has yet to hit a homer in 38 plate appearances. He's also struck out 14 times and drawn five walks.

Sano's batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is a rock-solid .474, so when he does make contact the ball is coming off his bat very hard and he's finding grass almost 50% of the time.

Fourteen strikeouts in 33 at-bats gives Sano a 42.4% strikeout rate. That's really, really high and is pretty much on track with his 41.6% strikeout rate in 2022 with the Twins.

So far, Sano is doing what he's always done: swing and miss or hit rockets.

Since becoming a starter for the Twins in 2016 he has produced exit velocity, barrel rates and hard-hit percentages in at least the 90th percentile while also producing whiff and strikeout rates in the bottom five percentile.

The 2019 season, which saw the Twins set a then-record with 307 homers, is a great example. Sano finished in the 100th percentile (meaning he was No. 1) in average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit percentage while finishing in the 1st percentile (meaning he was the worst) in whiff percentage and strikeout rate.