How Jackson Chourio is Tapping into More Power as He Matures at the Plate

There's never been a shortage of bat speed for Jackson Chourio. He's exceptionally strong, for such a young player, and he transfers his weight forcefully into the ball. His average swing speed was a robust 73.2 miles per hour, and this year, it's up another tick. Since the start of May, Chourio's bat speed is averaging 74.1 mph, which means he's capable of hitting it harder than most hitters. Yet, Chourio's average exit velocity and hard-hit rate are actually down this season; he's not getting as much sheer exit speed out of his swing speed as he was in 2024.

However, on Tuesday night against the visitors from Georgia, Chourio cracked his 11th home run of the young season. Even over a start during which he's been too aggressive and isn't playing his best baseball, he's set himself on a pace that could lead to 30 home runs on the year, all at age 21. It's fascinating that, even as he loses a bit of average jump off the bat, he's accessing more pop. How is it possible?

To answer that, consider this histogram of Chourio's batted balls from 2024, binned by launch angle. The bars are colored by exit velocity; redder bars indicate bins in which he hit the ball harder, while bluer ones indicate bins in which he hit it softer.

Last season, Chourio hit plenty of fly balls. Generally, though, his hardest contact came at lower launch angles. That's not unusual, especially for a hitter with a relatively flat swing, like Chourio's. He was most likely to hit the ball between 30° and 40°, but his average exit velocity on those batted balls was just 87.6 miles per hour. The balls on the higher end of a distribution like that will still do plenty of damage, and sure enough, Chourio was a valuable slugger in the second half of his rookie season. Clearly, though, it's a bit counterproductive to hit the ball hardest in the band just south of 0°. Those are ground balls, and though they have a chance to be singles, they tend to become outs most of the time.

Here's the same visual, for 2025 to date.

The peak frequency range is now a bit lower, and relatively speaking, he's hitting more unproductive high fly balls. However, he's also hitting way fewer balls at any angle lower than 10°, and look at the coloration of that tallest bar. His average exit velocity on batted balls between 20° and 30° is 91.1 mph. If you're hitting with that kind of authority in that bracket for launch angle, you're going to find a whole lot of power. 

Only approach questions need limit Chourio at this point. His uptick in swing speed has him in good shape to produce not just the 20-plus homers he's hit in each of his previous three years of professional ball, but 30 or 35. He's concentrating his hardest contact in the types of swings you want to see generate that exit velocity. He hasn't seen a massive spike in whiff rate. Now, he just needs to work a bit harder to get his pitch. Once he starts doing that, the power (already up a half-step from last year) will surge even more.