St. Louis Cardinals: Dexter Fowler continues power surge

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, Dexter Fowler, hit a home run for the fourth consecutive game.

The St. Louis Cardinals brought Dexter Fowler to St. Louis to be a lead-off hitter and move Matt Carpenter into the three-hole. Fowler’s OBP and ability to hit for contact attracted the Cardinals, in hopes of creating more runs for the heart of the order. If you watched the games over the last week, though, you probably noticed something different about Fowler.

In his last eight games, Dexter Fowler is batting .464 with five home runs and fourteen RBI. Four of the five home runs have come in consecutive games. For a guy that was the lead-off hitter not too long ago, he sure has some pop. Fowler has always had good power, but he is surpassing anyone’s expectations in the home run category.

Incredibly enough, Fowler now leads the St. Louis Cardinals in home runs with thirteen.

Fowler’s career high in home runs for a season is seventeen. He accomplished that feat in 2015 with the Chicago Cubs. This year he is on pace to hit thirty-one home runs. I don’t expect him to hit that many home runs, but it would be a very welcoming surprise.

The Cardinals have not been able to score many runs (outside of the Baltimore series) this year. Fowler’s power surge cold mean some changes to the lineup.

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What could have cause this power surge, though?

I believe Fowler’s power is on display more because of the lineup change St. Louis Cardinals manager, Mike Matheny, implemented not too long ago.

Matheny moved Matt Carpenter back to the lead-off role following his struggles as the team’s three-hitter. With that move, Matheny slotted Fowler in the two-hole.

As expected, many people questioned Matheny’s decision about moving Fowler and Carpenter. Fowler was the lead-off hitter the Cardinals were searching for, right?

Well it appears Matheny made the right decision in this case. Check out Fowler’s numbers this year out of the two-hole.

It’s pretty clear to see Fowler has good success batting second in the order. If I had to guess, I’d say there is one thing that has led to this kind of success for Fowler. The first thing would be his approach at the plate. I encourage anyone to watch Fowler’s approach at the plate over the last couple of days.

From my observation over the weekend, Fowler has become a little more aggressive since moving to the two-hole. It means that Fowler isn’t taking any chances on good pitches early in the count. The downside to this approach, however, is risking a bad swing. A bad swing could lead to a crucial out or even a double-play.

His aggressiveness is primarily due to the types of pitches he is seeing. Fowler is more than likely capitalizing on the fastball from opposing pitchers. Some of his home runs have come off off-speed pitches as well.

His home runs from off-speed pitches have been up in the zone. When a breaking ball or change-up stays up in the zone, a batter can adjust better. This results in a better swing and more power to be generated.

One thing that I would be interested to see is how much of Carpenter’s success is affecting Fowler. Carpenter’s success also has the ability to dictate what kind of pitches Fowler is seeing. If teams come into games thinking they just need to get by Carpenter to deal with, then pitching around Fowler isn’t going to happen.

Ideally, Fowler’s approach is more suited for someone hitting third. Maybe hitting Fowler third is a possibility if he continues to hit the way he is now. I brushed by the idea in a recent article about the St. Louis Cardinals interest in Avisail Garcia. If the Cardinals were to go out and trade for a guys who can hit in the two-hole, Fowler should be looked at to hit third.

Next: Father's Day tribute, part one

Dexter Fowler’s power surge is great to see. If he can stay consistent with his approach he could be leading the team in RBI by the end of the week. I’ll be watching his approach at the plate to see what else he has done with his swing to create success.

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, Dexter Fowler, hit a home run for the fourth consecutive game.

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