Gabriel Moreno is Pulling His Way to Offensive Success

The Arizona Diamondbacks have desperately longed to receive production from their core of right-handed hitters to begin 2025. With an injury which kept Ketel Marte out of the lineup, and slow starts for Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Eugenio Suarez, and of course Gabriel Moreno, the imbalance has made it quite difficult to face southpaw pitching.

Now, however, it seems at least one of those key contributors is showing all the right signs of finally breaking out.

Gabriel Moreno was hitting only .230, had an OPS of .581, and had belted no home runs on the season on May 7. Since then, the former Gold Glove catcher is batting .351 with a 1.060 OPS and three home runs in 39 plate appearances.

This comes in a stretch of games against some formidable opponents, in some of the most important division matchups of the young season. So what has helped Moreno turn things around?

A big part of the backstop's game is his ability to hit the ball the other way. While this has led to plenty of RBI's and a coined nickname of using "Gabi Lane" when driving a ball to right field, it may have also limited his pure offensive strength.

Notably, heading into May 19's series against the Dodgers, Moreno had not pulled a single fly ball to left field. He had not even hit a fly ball in the air up the middle until the calendar flipped to May. Of course this isn't the only path to success, with plenty of batters thriving with an opposite-field approach, but it is clear that there is power in pulling the baseball.

Recently, however, Moreno has seemingly turned a corner. Not just in performance, but also in his batted ball profiles, and notably in his spray chart. He has began driving the ball to his pull side, and has found more hits, and certainly more extra base hits when going that way.

Four of his six doubles, and all three of his home runs have come in the month of May, with four of those six doubles, and two of those three longballs going towards left field. Of course this dosen't speak only to approach, but also to quality of contact, and the quality of swings which Moreno is creating.

This added performance is coming at the perfect time for the Diamondbacks, as they have met with the division rival Dodgers and other NL West foes during this stretch of games. In fact, it has been against those very same Dodgers that Moreno has launched all three of his 2025 home runs, including a ninth-inning game-tying blast in Tuesday night's matchup.

Throughout his career, including the postseason, against the Dodgers, Moreno has hit to a .308 average, with a .951 OPS and 7 home runs, with that longball total surpassing his total against any other club.

One of the youngest and most important members of the Diamondbacks core, Moreno impacts the team as much as any other hitter when he's producing. As an elite defensive catcher, production at the plate is a highly sought-after trait.

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