Houser’s ability to get groundballs is useful (57% from 2019-2021, 47.7% since), but [he] has been one of the hardest hit pitchers in the Statcast era.
Hard Hit Rate by season:
2025: 47.6% (5th percentile)
2024: 40.4% (35th)
2023: 46.3% (5th)
2022: 41.5% (19th)
2021: 36.0% (69th)
2020: 32.8% (75th)
2019: 35.3% (61st)
That’s three seasons well above average and four seasons well below and it’s all thanks to a fastball velocity that went from above average to below over the span of a few seasons.
Prior to 2025, he’d never been better than league average. He stormed out of the gates with the White Sox this season before coming back down to earth with the Rays, who acquired him at the trade deadline.