How Baseball Has Changed - Part II of II

Have the changes in baseball over the last 10-15 years created more offense?

Players are more productive if they swing at the first pitch. After a drop off in the early 2010s and a brief rise through 2019, first swing slugging is at mid 1990s levels.

The difference between first pitch slugging and taking first pitch slugging began to widen in the 2000s. A sign that if you are more aggressive first pitch, more good things happen.

Slugging percentage with runners in scoring position dropped off in the early 2010s then stabilized at late 1990s levels.

What about flyballs?  Slugging percentage started rising in the mid 2000s with a sharp jump after 2015 then a drop since 2020 to mid 2010 levels. Overall flyballs are resulting in more 2B/3B/HRs.

Significant increases in flyball slugging percentages of pulled balls peaking around 2020 then dropping off over the last 5 seasons to 2012 levels.

Opposite field flyball slugging was fairly flat between 2005 and 2015 as pulled flyball slugging rose. Between 2015 and 2020, oppo flyball slugging rose then fell back to 2004/2006 levels.

How about when the batter is ahead in the count?  Interestingly, slugging fell from 2000 to 2015 (brief jump 2015-2020) with levels back to 2015 levels since.

Slugging percentage after two strikes was steady from 1995 to 2005 then fell until 2015. Levels remain steady since 2015 after a small rise around 2020.

Plate appearances that result in a run when runners are in scoring position dropped in the mid 2010s then rose back to early 2000s levels.

Percentage of homeruns with runners in scoring position per plate appearance jumped around 2015 and leveled off last 4 seasons.