Issac Paredes at the plate has been a surprise for Tampa Bay Rays

Back in April of 2022, the Tampa Bay Rays received third baseman Issac Paredes from the Detroit Tigers sending away Austin Meadows out from St. Pete. 

The first season for Paredes was nothing too special. He was able to hit a lot of homeruns (20). But struggled overall at the plate and with getting on base as he hit .205 and had an OBP of .304.

This season, a switch seems to have been flipped with how the 24-year-old is doing at the plate. There has been a big jump in OPS from a year ago to .848 this season. That is second on the team only to Yandy Diaz.

With around a month and a half of regular season baseball left, Paredes also has blown past last season's home run total as he now sits at 23 this season. That is tied with Jose Siri for the most on the team. His batting average and on-base percentage have increased a bit as well as he has become a .250 hitter with a .355 OBP. 

Paredes has also mastered the pull swing as his go-to when facing opposing pitchers. All of his home runs have been pulled to left field and in fact, 78% of his total hits this season have been pulled towards left field. 

The K rate has also been better for him as he is now in the 73rd percentile along with a much-improved whiff rate in the 81st percentile.

Paredes is far from being a perfected presence at the plate, but the improvement and team-leading stats he is putting up have certainly made opposing teams put an asterisk next to his name in the lineup sheet.