Steven Souza Jr. is walking his way into a breakout season

Steven Souza Jr. capped off yesterday’s game with a dramatic walk off homer off Jacob Barnes to help the Tampa Bay Rays avoid the sweep.

On December 19, 2014 the Rays shipped Wil Myers to the San Diego Padres in order to acquire Steven Souza Jr. in a three way trade from the Washington Nationals. The Nationals side of the trade has been heavily criticized for giving up the option of Joe Ross and PTBNL that was Trea Turner.

This year Souza has broken out to be the player the Rays hoped to acquire in the blockbuster deal. He is hitting .269/.371/.517 and has a 140 wRC+. He’s hit 24 homers and been the best hitter on the team. He’s your prototypical middle of order bat.

How did Souza go from his first two years of hovering around a league average bat to being the best bat on a team with some really solid bats?

Steven Souza Jr.

Year	PA	BB%	K%	AVE	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
2016	468	6.6%	34.0%	0.247	0.303	0.409	0.308	94
2017	443	12.9%	28.4%	0.269	0.371	0.517	0.376	140

The overall value Souza has provided at the plate has been massive. He currently sits at 3.4 fWAR and could push 5.0 fWAR with a strong finish to the year.

The first two things that stick out is the walk rate and strikeout rate showing dramatic improvement. Improving his walk rate by 6.3% while lowering his strikeout rate by 5.6% is absolutely massive.

The batting average is up 22 points which sounds like a lot. It’s not coming from a marked improvement in accumulating hits. He currently sits only 25 plate appearances below his 2016 total, however he still has four fewer hits.