{"id":676985,"date":"2026-04-16T15:08:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676985\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:08:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:08:31","slug":"jacob-youngs-new-swing-is-paying-dividends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676985\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Young’s New Swing Is Paying Dividends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Going to a Major League Baseball game is an inherently humbling experience. Away from the K-zones and close-ups, we\u2019re reminded of how small we really are. Just stand at field level from the outfield. Home plate is more than a football field away. The men bridging that gap seem little more than insects, action figures in a game we don\u2019t get to control. Suddenly, it makes a little more sense why these guys get paid so much money.<\/p>\n

No one is covering more ground than the center fielder, a job so difficult that teams are willing to sacrifice offensive potency for sure-handedness and a solid first step. There will always be a role for a glove-first center fielder with the speed and savviness to shrink the gaps to his left and right. But truly elite defense in center is as fleeting as it is important. In 2024, Brenton Doyle<\/a> ranked second in deserved runs prevented (DRP) among center fielders, behind only Washington Nationals<\/a> speedster Jacob Young<\/a>. A year later, he ranked 22nd of 23 qualifiers.<\/p>\n

This sport doesn\u2019t care for glove-first corner outfielders. Young\u2019s profile is at constant risk of falling off the map, and last year\u2019s 66 wRC+ is about as close as one gets to doing so. In an act of self-preservation, Young is making the strides necessary to stick around the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

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Young Is Swinging Differently<\/p>\n

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Young is a different player than he was this time last April. He\u2019s shed the 20-grade power that defined his offensive profile, and it\u2019s turned him into one of April\u2019s more surprising sluggers. Through 16 games, he\u2019s matched his 2025 home run total (2) and nearly quadrupled his ISO (.204), resulting in a 111 wRC+.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to chalk that up to small samples and good fortune. But Young\u2019s adjustments are tangible and, thus, trustworthy. He\u2019s optimizing the little power his 192-pound frame can generate through a new swing and improved approach.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with his swing, the physical manifestation of his new identity. Young\u2019s attack angle is up meaningfully from last season, up from 6\u00b0 to 10\u00b0. While Young\u2019s not a dead pull hitter, he\u2019s pushing the ball less, too. His feet help tell this story, as his stance is 6\u00b0 more open in 2026.<\/p>\n

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Part of this pop can be attributed to an uptick in bat speed. Normally, batters thaw out in April, swinging a little harder as the season rolls along. However, Young\u2019s bat speed is up from 68.3 mph to 70.5 mph, a jump from the 7th percentile to the 27th. Only four hitters have added more juice this offseason.<\/p>\n

Young isn\u2019t built to put 30 balls in the seats, but improving from bad to acceptable is as important as good to great. If he hits 10 homers instead of two, Washington\u2019s offense will feel the difference. By swinging faster, he\u2019s setting himself up for more (albeit marginal) damage. 35-grade power would fundamentally change our understanding of Young, and he can give back some of his early-season gains (98 Power+) and still get there.<\/p>\n

Naturally, an uptick in bat speed has shown itself in his batted ball data. Young\u2019s max exit velo is down, and it\u2019ll never be outstanding. On balance, though, he\u2019s hitting the ball harder than ever \u2014 even if his average exit velocity is just 87.2 mph. Young\u2019s exit velocity on fly balls has skyrocketed to 95.2 mph, an 83rd-percentile mark and nearly 12 mph more than last season. That\u2019s an absurd gain, and it\u2019s amplified by his intentions.<\/p>\n

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Young\u2019s line drive and fly ball rates are the best of his career. His launch angle is up from 2.2 degrees to 9.9. His Pull Air% has nearly tripled! It\u2019s too small a sample to truly trust, but if Young became pulled-fly-ball-pilled over the offseason, this is what it would look like.<\/p>\n

For that reason, I\u2019m willing to buy his surprising start. It\u2019s no surprise that his .469 slugging percentage is the best of his career. He\u2019s not straying too far from his expected statistics, either. Young is lifting the ball more, hitting it harder, and reaping the benefits.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s Results vs. Expected<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is paramount that Young isn\u2019t selling out for this newfound pop. His walk rate has shrunk, but his Decision Value hasn\u2019t. His contact rate has barely suffered, his chase rate is down, and he\u2019s striking out less.<\/p>\n

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We can thank Driveline for these developments. As Matthew Creally wrote<\/a>, \u201cImagine a center fielder with world-class range, elite sprint speed, and a very good arm, but a replacement-level bat. In theory, if our hypothetical player managed to become valuable at the plate, they\u2019d become one of the best outfielders in baseball. That\u2019s the current goal for Jacob Young, who fits this description to a tee and is working at Driveline to figure out that last part.\u201d In a sport where athleticism is often akin to upside, Young\u2019s dynamism might finally be coaxed out of his bat.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that the Nationals\u2019 turnover has lent itself to revamped offensive infrastructure. CJ Abrams<\/a> looks like a new man, too. There\u2019s something in the water in Washington, and it\u2019s helped their team-wide Process+ jump from 19th last season to sixth in the early going. Maybe their horrifyingly bad pitching staff is just dehydrated.<\/p>\n

The regression monster will eventually grow hungry and feast on Young\u2019s gains. He\u2019s not going to run a 25% HR\/FB rate forever, nor will he slug better than Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> star Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a>\u00a0Yet, Young\u2019s offensive floor has never been higher, and he is bound to run into a few more home runs by aiming for the foul poles instead of the grass beyond center field. If these changes stick, he should have no problem surpassing the 84 wRC+ that earned him a career-high 2.7 fWAR in 2024.<\/p>\n

For Young, a league-average bat is a lifeline. Elite defense in center field doesn\u2019t last, and as he enters his late 20s, it will be his offense that defines his viability. By making the most of his limited power, Washington has given Young the keys to stick around a little while longer.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Going to a Major League Baseball game is an inherently humbling experience. Away from the K-zones and close-ups,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2398],"tags":[5,4,415,414,71,4222],"class_list":{"0":"post-676985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-nationals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-nationals","11":"tag-washington","12":"tag-washington-nationals","13":"tag-washingtonnationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116415025716777301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}