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The Hottest Hitters in Baseball
Which hitters used the All-Star Break as a reset?
Michael Mohorovich
July 24, 2025
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Holliday, Walker, and Guerrero Jr. Lead the Way!
The All-Star Break is more than just the game and the home run derby - it's an opportunity for players on both sides of the aisle, who are having good and bad seasons, to take a break and reset.
The players who are having strong seasons hope the reset doesn’t backfire and mess up their rhythm, which we’ve seen in the past. Gunnar Henderson was hitting .286 with 28 home runs and a .956 last season before the All-Star Break, and in the final three months, his batting average fell to .273, he managed just 9 home runs in the final 64 games, and had an OPS of .799.
Last season, we saw Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ride the opposite side of that wave. He hit .289 with just 14 home runs in the first 96 games. In the final 63 games, he had 16 home runs, and his average jumped to .376!
Jackson Holliday, Second Half Breakout?
This season, the early leading candidate for using the All-Star break as a catapult to a strong second half is Jackson Holliday. The former first overall pick hit .259, had an OPS of .722, and hit 12 home runs in 348 at-bats in the first half (HR per AB of 29.0). In the first 6 games of the second half, he’s hitting .292 with a .912 OPS and has 2 home runs in 24 at-bats (HR per AB of 12.0). It's a small sample size, obviously, but that’s why he led off the newsletter today.
Since returning from the break, Holliday has 3 or more combined hits, runs, and RBIs in 4 of 6 games, and has 2+ HRR in one of the other two. It was only in the first game back that he didn’t manage an HRR of any kind.
Holliday’s HRR in his last 10 games
Holliday faces Guardians starter Logan Allen tonight, and although they don’t have any history against each other, Allen has given up 6+ hits in 3 of his last 4 home starts.
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Christian Walker
Walker signed a 3-year, 60 million dollar deal with Houston last offseason, and it’s fair to say his first half of his first year did not go to plan. He hit just .229, had 12 home runs, and finished with an OPS of .660. In his previous 6 seasons in Arizona, he was a .253 hitter who averaged 23 home runs a season and had an OPS just shy of .800 (.797). Fair to say that his first half in Houston was, well, bad.
But in the 6 games back from the All-Star break, Walker is hitting a whopping .346 with a .952 OPS and a HR. It’s translated to an increase in production, too.
Walker has 2+ HRR in 5 straight games, 3+ HRR in four of those games, and 4+ HRR in three of the five games. The only game he didn’t register an HRR was the first game back from the break.
Walker’s HRR in his last 10 games
He faces Luis Severino tonight - it’s not a great historical matchup for him. In 8 plate appearances vs Severino, he has zero hits and a walk with one strikeout. Five of those 8 plate appearances were in 2025, too.
But there is some hope - Severino and Walker are fastball pitchers and hitters, respectively, but Severino throws a breaking ball at the second-highest frequency (28.7%) and Walker has a 13.7 barrel percentage vs breaking balls this season.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr
Vladdy wasn’t bad in the first half; he just wasn’t good enough for who he is. He hit .277 in the first half with an .818 OPS and 12 HR’s. But the strong signs of life in the second half are encouraging, very encouraging. He is hitting a whopping .409 in the first six games with 1 home run and an OPS over 1.000 (1.091).
And it’s translated in his HRR numbers - he has 18 HRR in those 4 games, with 3+ HRR in 3 of his last 4 and two games with 6 HRR.
Vladdy’s HRR in his last 10 games
He faces Reese Olson today, and although the history isn’t on Vlad’s side (7 plate appearances, 1 single, .167 average), Olson has been a bit leaky lately, allowing 13 hits in his last 2 home starts and 14 hits in his last 3 starts overall.
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Batter vs Pitcher Matchups, July 24
🔥 Batter vs Pitcher Matchups — July 24th 🔥
⚾ Steven Kwan: 2+ HRR in 6 of L7 (17 total HRR) 💥
⚾ Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 17 HRR in L4 - hitting .522 w/ 1.411 OPS 🔥
⚾ Brendan Donovan: Hitting .308 in L3, 7 combined H/R/RBI 🎯
⚾ Yainer Diaz: .400 AVG in 10 PA’s vs Severino 💣
The batter vs pitcher matchup sheet for July 24th