I've been searching for biggest ISO gainers year over year but can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know how to find this without tabbing back and forth between stats and years? I'm hoping someone already did the work.

Is anyone at all wondering about how this may end up? AJ has his biggest year last year coming off a wrist injury, and almost triples his power. Could he be?!?!!? Thought about this due to the new story Schilling came out with.

Also......we got tired of Josh Hamilton swinging at everything last year.....AJ is just as bad...and has been bad his whole career at it. He just makes contact more often.

I guess maybe we will be more lenient due to the fact he will be hitting 7/8/9.......

Ask Andy or Eric. They seem to know everything

FanGraphs tracks ISO on a year-to-year basis; it's all in the same column.

I think you answered your own question in that he had a big year AFTER playing with an injured wrist. Maybe he thrived because he could finally swing a bat without being in pain.
Do I think he's done steroids? I have no clue... but he strikes me as the type that honors and respects the game and wants to play it the right way... and expects those around him to do the same.
In regards to him being a free swinger like Josh; even with the Ks he's one of the most offensively productive catchers in the game. We can live with that at the bottom of the lineup and coming from that position.

My only concern about AJ is how he's going to act in the clubhouse. Throw in another emotional, opinionated guy like Berkman... coupled with Wash making questionable calls and it could be a disaster. The good thing about them being on 1 yr deals is if they are detrimental to the team, you cut em' loose . You don't have to "find" ways to make them fit in as if they were here on big, 4 or 5 yr deals.
I think Josh Hamilton is a good guy... a really good guy... but something happened in that final week that made him decide to quit on his team. I don't think anyone can dispute that fact. We may never know what it was but if it had anything to do with money, his contract, or more importantly, jealousy, the Angels could have a 5 yr mess on their hands. If AJ or Berkman is too much to deal with, JD will just cut bait and forgot about them. They have to adapt to our clubhouse rather than us having to adapt to them. That's a big difference and something we should all consider next time JD offers only 1 or 2 yr deals to talented, but potentially problematic players.

He has provided an explanation for his improved batting skill, so there is a plausible reason to think his sudden improvement might be legit. http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/texas-rangers/post/_/id/4894571/qa-white-sox-writer-talks-a-j-pierzynski http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/aj-pierzynski-whats-next/

But since the simplest explanation is usually the right one. So let's be big boys here and admit the biggest probability is that he juiced in a contract year in hopes of getting one last, big contract.

Is it possible he juiced? possibly. Is it possible a swing adjustment and health did it? possibly. But its not like weve invested alot in him.

Pardon me & my two cents. AJP has nothing to gain by doing PEDs. He's already high tier as a catcher.
He also is well liked and approved by the media. He'll have a good job once he retires. He does not have
grandure visions of making the HOF or breaking any records of high regards. He's simply a grinder, that
loves the game. Plays out of respect for the game and tries to walk the walk. though sometimes the talk
grates on some that have ideas of cheating, breaking the rules or simply a gold brick prima donna waif. I
wish half our team was in the same mold. I'm looking forward to his input as a Ranger 2013. Good contract.

This thread illustrates one of the problems with PEDs: all the players, users or not, get tarred with the same brush.

Unacceptable & a witch hunt forum here. Speculation has better ears than this trollup mudhole.

I think the Schilling comment (where he said he was asked by a Sox employee to juice, when he neared the end of his career) probably sheds light here. If you are coming off an injury, getting old, and have nothing to lose, why not take a chance that the juice will enhance your performance and help you get rich? It's called "performance enhancing" for a reason.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2013/02/08/curt-schilling-says-sox-medical-staffer-suggested-use-hgh/JwJMQMeAXfGBhVOktlQTjI/story.html

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was standing in the clubhouse at Fenway Park early in the 2008 season when a member of the team’s medical staff suggested he try human growth hormone to help overcome a shoulder injury.

After trying the team’s approach for nearly five months, Schilling had surgery in June. The righthander announced his retirement on March 24, 2009.

Schilling said he was not tempted to use HGH despite dealing with an injury that would eventually require career-ending surgery.

If you are coming off an injury, getting old, and have nothing to lose, why not take a chance that the juice will enhance your performance and help you get rich?

rfd, the argument Hubz makes above pretty much sums it up. If you're at the end of your career (due to age, not skill-set) and you aren't a borderline HOFer, why run the risk of juicing for a year and tarnishing the reputation of an entire body of work? AJP would have been about 35 last offseason when this accused steroid regime would have started. You think he was really willing to gamble on PEDs boosting his 2012 numbers enough to sign another mega contract going in to his age 36 season. He's too smart for that.

Baseball players aren't known for their intelligence and from what I read on here neither are the posters on this site.

Henchmen, I think you have it exactly backwards.

What does he have to lose? Not much. If he's injured, old, and in a contract year, his next contract is probably going to be hard to get. If he PEDs and gets caught, he's still in the same boat. But if he gets away with it, he can score big financially. Nothing to lose, and lots to gain.

Pierzynski had a career year at 35, coming off an injury. He more than doubled his average WAR for the previous years. And it paid off. Instead of being overlooked in free agency, he got a pretty strong contract for a 36-year-old catcher, he'll be paid more in 2013 than he's ever made in a season.

shhhhhh Lil' frd, there's a monster under your bed...