Time for Eric Hosmer to Start Heating Up

Sometimes, as a player continues his major league career, patterns develop. A player will struggle against left handed or right handed pitching, or may start of slowly and heat up over the course of the season. With Eric Hosmer, it appears as though the latter tendency is going to be the case.

Over Hosmer’s career, he has had his struggles over the first two months of the season, posting a .250/.323/.365 batting line during March/April and a .261/.299/.393 batting line in May. Only thirteen of his career home runs have come during those first months of the season, with 2014 being the second consecutive year that he has posted only one long ball in April and May.

However, Eric Hosmer has traditionally been able to heat up as the weather has gotten warmer. Last season, after a difficult first two months of the year, Hosmer produced a .318/.367/.494 batting line, hitting 16 of his 17 home runs over the final four months. Perhaps not coincidentally, as Hosmer began to heat up, the Royals play improved last season, as they went on a second half charge to put themselves into playoff contention.

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This season, while Hosmer has once again been lacking in the power department, he has produced a .286/.330/.387 batting line, far better than the .261/.320/.333 slash line he had at the end of May a year ago. While it may not be reflecting in the home run department, Hosmer has been driving the ball en route to 17 doubles, which is already half of his total last season, when his 34 doubles set a career high. Perhaps that breakout season, which we had all hoped for this year, will come to fruition over the final two thirds of the season.

Unlike last season, when the Royals were scuffling along to a 23-30 record as of June 1st, they have been able to tread water at approximately .500 virtually all year. Should they be able to replicate their second half charge, the Royals will need the offense to step up. Having Eric Hosmer get hot, as he tends to do once the calender turns to June, will be a major help to the Royals aspirations this season.

Eric Hosmer has a tendency to heat up once the calender turns to June. Hopefully, history will repeat itself this season.