I started a project with a plan for three articles, one each for the biggest surprise in the category of defense, offense and pitching. I did pitchers and now I’m moving on to hitters.

Who was the most surprising (in a good way) hitter this year? We have a couple of entries people could advocate for. V. Scott being a MLB hitter at all could be viewed as a pleasant surprise that few expected at the start of the year. Some might advocate for Burleson, who had his best all-around season this year. But I opted for Ivan Herrera. Why?

None of us should have been surprised that Herrera is a good hitter. Here is his Statcast page from 2024.

We see two things. First, a fair amount of red. Second, a lot of shading that is the warning that this sample size is too small to really trust.

Ivan finis

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