What Happened to Addison Russell’s Power?

Addison Russell’s power numbers look nothing close to his marks from prior seasons. He’s only hit five homers in 390 plate appearances has tallied a paltry .106 ISO, down from the .179 he produced in 2016 and 2017. And xStats, which uses batted-ball data to quantify what should happen, suggests the power outage is a real thing, too.

So, ugh, what’s the deal with Russell’s power?

Honestly, the outage is weird and it’s hard to pinpoint an answer. But the one drastically different peripheral that stands out is a increase in zone contact rate from 81 percent last season to 86 percent this season. Hitting more pitches is good, though, right?

Well, yeah, normally. But it’s possible that Russell’s…