As of this writing David Ortiz is on yet another rampage, having hit .545 over the last seven days going into a three-game series at Yankee Stadium, after putting up a white-hot .342/.387/.694 May with 10 home runs. Can he and will he sustain this hitting for the entire season and beyond? Time will tell. For now, I am simply happy to enjoy it. It has been a long, long time since Ortiz has looked as utterly locked in at the plate as he does now, and whether or not it lasts, it is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Looking at stats and firsthand observation, it is easy to say he is simply recapturing his pre-2008 form, but in some ways it’s a lot more than that. Two trends have emerged so far in the year that indicate Large Father is quite arguably more locked in at this point, in June of 2011, than he ever has been in his entire career.

The first and most obvious to date, is opposite field power. Much has been made of Ortiz’s budding relationship with Adrian Gonzalez and his "coincidental" surge in crushing balls off (and over) the Monster. Ortiz has publicly commented on his new approach of attempting to go opposite rather than pulling pitches. Knowing what you want to do, however, is not much use if you can’t execute. On this, Ortiz has not missed his opportunities.

Take a look at his Hit Tracker HR chart for 2010. Using 90 degrees as my "center line", only 5 of his 32 HR in 2010 were hit to left or left-center field. 16.7% of his balls to left were line drives, with an ISO of .213. 

via i.imgur.com

Now see his 2011 chart so far. 

via i.imgur.com

Ortiz has already hit more opposite-field HR in his first 57 games than he did in all of last year. He is annihilating opposite field balls for a 23.9% LD rate and a staggering .400 ISO. He is hitting more line drives to LF than to center or his pull side, which has not happened since his 54 HR season in 2006. An intriguing similarity can be seen in Gonzalez and Ortiz’s TexasLeaguers spray charts for all batted balls, starting from May 1st when they began kicking into their current offensive gear. The first chart below is for Ortiz, the second for Gonzalez.

via i.imgur.com

via i.imgur.com

The main visible difference is that Gonzalez’s swing path creates deep fly balls to the opposite field, pushing his LF HR’s much farther than Ortiz’s; Gonzalez’s actual LD% to LF is surprisingly pedestrian. Ortiz’s swing is creating hits on a lower trajectory (most of his HR to LF that are listed on Hit Tracker this season as "Just Enough" are balls that just made it over the Monster), but he is hitting them very hard as evidenced by the line-drive rate. With the wall turning many of these balls into hits, it is no surprise that Ortiz is absolutely raking at Fenway (.342 so far) while being slightly more human on the road (.306). Getting yourself that pitch to drive, however, can be as difficult as the act itself. On this count, Ortiz has been nothing short of extraordinary so far. Put simply, he is controlling the strike zone like the Ortiz of 2004-2007, and when he attacks he is very rarely missing.

Again for comparison: below is Gonzalez’s swing chart from the same timeframe (May 1st to present), representing the locations and types of all pitches he has swung at.

via i.imgur.com

Likes those high fastballs and low changeups, he does. Now see Ortiz’s swing chart across the same span, in David’s case representing a sample of about 500 pitches seen. 

via i.imgur.com

Like I said: Locked. In. Remember, this chart covers about 500 pitches seen. Ortiz has simply refused to bite at pitches low and out of the strike zone, especially those low-and-away breaking balls that were his kryptonite against LHP. Indeed, Ortiz has also commented on his adjustments to lefties this year by refusing to chase pitches he flailed at in recent years. A good number of the pitches he does chase outside the zone have been borderline fastballs which he would be fully capable of putting a good swing on. One last series of graphs: swing and take charts for pitches he has swung at, or looked at, during this recent 7 day tear from May 29th to today.

via i.imgur.com

via i.imgur.com

Opposing pitchers must have been tearing their hair out at Ortiz’s utter refusal to chase junk pitches, especially in that low-and-away section. It’s also worth mentioning at this point that not only is his eye as sharp as it has ever been, but he is barely missing anything that he does choose to swing at. Ortiz has struck out only 25 times in 237 plate appearances, by far the lowest of any regular Red Sox player. In comparison, Jason Varitek has already whiffed 27 times in only 94 PA’s. His zone-contact % is its highest since 2007, and the second-highest rate of his entire career. His overall contact % is already the highest of his career, and his swinging strike rate is an incredible 6.8%. This is extremely impressive for a power hitter. For context, Albert Pujols, probably the best power hitter alive at controlling the strike zone, is at 5.6% career. The lowest figure Ortiz had posted to date was 8.2%, which came in, you guessed it, 2007. A SwStrk% this low indicates that not only is he rarely being fooled, overpowered, or outguessed at the plate, but that he is overwhelmingly choosing to limit his swings to pitches he can hit well in the first place. This added refinement to his plate discipline, which was already among the best in the AL, has synched with his successful opposite-field approach better than anyone could have hoped.

At the end of the derailed 2010 season, some were unsure if David Ortiz would wear a Red Sox uniform again; and if he did, whether he could still fight off age and decline for another year. Many scoffed at Dave Magadan’s stubborn insistence that the Ortiz of 2007 was still physically in there, a few adjustments or refinements away. With more than a third of this season in the books, Large Father has answered those doubts more authoritatively than anybody could have expected. Whether or not he keeps it up is almost a secondary concern to me at this point. Being able to watch him hit like a human wrecking ball again is like seeing your old girlfriend for the first time in years looking twice as hot as ever before. I don’t know about you but I intend to make the most of the opportunity while I can.