Bryan Reynolds' 2025 struggles with Pirates can be traced back to this change

Bryan Reynolds has been a consistently good hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates since 2019, but he is having the worst year of his career in 2025. He is slashing a meager .242/.299/.396 on the year with a .302 wOBA, and 90 wRC+.

Prior to this, he never once posted a wRC+ under 110 (minus the shortened 2020 season). He only has a .154 isolated slugging percentage and is walking at a career-low 7.1% rate. Strikeouts have been an unusual issue for Reynolds, as he's been sat down 27.1% of the time in that department.

A look under the hood only shows he’s mostly doing everything the same as he usually does. His expected numbers are all in line with his career averages. He has a .271 xBA compared to his career average xBA of .274. His .474 xSLG% is only a few points off from his .470 mark. He also has a .344 xwOBA, not far from his .353 career xwOBA. His 90.8 MPH exit velocity is the second-best of his career, as is his 10.5% barrel rate.

But to find why he isn’t hitting like he usually does, despite his process not being much different than usual, you have to dig deeper into his bat tracking.

Baseball Savant began bat tracking in 2023, giving fans a better insight into a player’s mechanics at the plate. The first thing is that Reynolds is taking much more aggressive swings. His fast swing rate has risen from 10.8% in 2023 to 17.1% last year to 22.3% in 2025. He has already swung and missed at 30 non-competitive pitches, which Baseball Savant calls "swords", a term popularized by Rob Friedman (also known as the Pitching Ninja). Reynolds had 31 swords all of last year.

Another thing in Reynolds’ bat tracking metrics that has changed is his intercept point, especially when he is batting right-handed. Reynolds intercepted the ball 0.5 and 0.2 inches in front of the plate in 2023 and 2024, respectively, when hitting from the right side. That is down to -2.9 inches this year. Meanwhile, the intercept point of contact when he is batting left-handed only fell from 3.1 inches to 2.5 inches between 2024 and 2025.

Reynolds has also changed his stance in the box when hitting right-handed. His depth in the box has gone from 29.1 inches to 31 inches. He also changed his foot placement. There was a 37.2-inch distance between his feet in his right-handed stance in 2024, but a 31.2-inch distance this year. A 1-2 inch difference in where he stands in the box could be an honest, unconscious mistake. But changing his foot placement by half a foot seems to be intentional.

Everything is still there from Reynolds’ previous seasons of being a quality hitter. He is still hitting the ball hard and making quality contact, while his underlying numbers remain solid. But small changes in his stance and point of contact could be all the difference between a solid season and the year he is having in 2025.