Josh Naylor reached new heights on Monday.

This is a real picture of Naylor not only swinging at a pitch but picking up the first of his three hits in the Mariners 10-3 route in Toronto.

That pitch was very high. It was fairly outside. And it was turned around for a single with a 96 mph exit velocity. Here’s the location of his hits from ALCS Game 2:

That is the second highest pitch turned into a hit for the Mariners this season, behind only another Naylor knock in August. It was the seventh highest pitch ever converted into a base hit in team history. It looks even more rare when considering how far outside it was. There are only 14 hits by lefty batters in the entire Statcast era on pitches at least four feet high and a foot off the center of the plate. He still somehow pulled it hard through the infield into right-center field.

Naylor swung at the up-and-away pitch 39% of the time in 2025. No batter swung there more. He whiffed just 22% of the time. Few batters whiffed there less. When he made contact, he posted a 46% hard hit rate and a .380 xBA. Not only was that among the best contact in MLB for that zone, but it was the zone where he was most likely to record a hit.

Naylor’s power doesn’t necessarily come on that up-and-away pitch, as he mostly turned those swings into high grounders and sinking liners. But he seems justified in hunting pitches in that general region.

What is it about Naylor’s swing that allows him to hit that pitch?

I don’t know, to be honest. The one thing that stands out to me is his swing path (or tilt) is especially flat while reaching up and away:

And that’s the strongest relationship I could find for success in that zone (though it’s not a particularly strong relationship):

That hit is bizarre, because Josh Naylor is bizarre. He chases out of the zone more than most. He whiffs out of the zone less than most. He doesn’t really walk. He doesn’t really strikeout. His quality of contact isn’t impressive. His max exit velocity is one of the 10 best of 2025. He’s one of the slowest players in the league. He’s one of the best base stealers in the league. His stat line looks like that of a short stop from the early 2000s. He’s a top 10 first baseman in the game today. He’s the best player ever acquired by the Mariners midseason. He’s set to be a free agent in less than a month.

I don’t know what to think about Josh Naylor, but I sure think about him a lot.