Carpenter, who went 2-for-5 with a solo home run and two runs in a win over the Reds on Saturday, has five of his homers on the season over his last 18 games entering Sunday.

EDGE Analysis

Carpenter began to awaken offensively a few games prior to that stretch, but he'd still come into a May 21 game against the Royals having left the yard on just three occasions over his first 162 plate appearances (40 games), despite a 44.7 percent hard contact rate. He's managed to boost that already impressive number even further to 54.5 percent over the aforementioned 18-game span, and just as important, he's increased his flyball rate 12.5 points to 56.6 percent. The combination of the two has helped lead to the power surge, and it's also boosted Carpenter's season slugging percentage from a middling .351 to .433.