Luckily Fangraphs provides info on all of this. His O-swing% has been rising since 2020 from a low of 25%. 35%, this year's number is 10% higher than his best mark. So whatever the cause is, he's really changed his approach and has become far more chase happy.
Obviously the "why" is harder to answer, but I would hope whatever has changed over the last three years is fixable. He's chasing sliders at a Duvalish rate and that just was not the case for him in the past. Even getting it down to 27 or 28% would make a huge difference in his plate approach. Zone contact and contact percentage is also down year over year.
He's got plenty of time to make adjustments this year, I think, and I hope to see these numbers improve some, the K rate come down, etc.
On the other hand, his out of zone contact rate isn't much different than in the past.
I've speculated that his balky elbow might have contributed to his chase rate, e.g., he was starting his swing earlier to get ahead on fastballs, but it's possible he's lost his pitch recognition or his patience over the years. Impossible to say. Hopefully it was a timing/injury issue though and he can get his mojo back.
